Macau, the heart of gambling in China, is now the world’s fourth richest territory per person in the world.
It has surpassed Switzerland where GDP per capita rose by 2% in 2013 to £46,946, according to World Bank data.
But Macau’s GDP per capita jumped 18% in that year hitting £53,227, thanks to increasing numbers of tourists and gamblers arriving from mainland China. About 17 million tourists from mainland China visited Macau last year, compared with just 800,000 in 1999.
The top three spots are still held by Luxembourg, Norway and Qatar.
The US holds 10th position, with per capital GDP at £30,979 and the UK is 21st, with £22,939.
The territory is the only place in which China has legalised gambling. The population is just 566,400, but its massive gambling revenues are far greater than those in Las Vegas.
Macau is trying to reinvent itself as a destination for family fun, but is probably finding it painful to dampen down its gambling money, although this comes at the price of an unattractive underworld.
About 17 million tourists from mainland China visited Macau last year, compared with just 800,000 in 1999.
Macau was returned to China in 1999, two years after the Hong Kong.
The Portuguese may be looking at their former colony and wondering if they missed a trick.
