°°Macao SAR, China°°
• GNI per capita: $95,304
• 2017 GDP: $65.3 billion (98th out of 196 countries)
• Population: 0.6 million
• Life expectancy at birth: 84.0 years
Macao is another special administrative region of China, meaning it is not fully autonomous, as China handles foreign affairs and defense. Since allowing the foreign competition in its local casino industry starting in 2001, Macao has become one of the world's top gaming destinations, and the sector has pumped billions of dollars into the economy of this relatively small region. Only one nation has a higher GNI per capita than Macao's $95,000.
Macao's economy is growing faster than that of any country that ranks among the 25 richest in the world. The special administrative region's economy grew 9.1% in 2017, nearly triple the rate of the worldwide GDP growth.
Great to know that a country can actually grow that much financially with oil.