Japan Surpasses U.S. in Assets, Becomes World’s Richest Nation

Japan became the world’s richest nation on paper in 1987, surpassing the United States in national assets for the first time with $43.7-trillion worth of land, factories, stocks and other wealth, a leading Japanese newspaper said today.

The value of Japan’s assets in 1987 jumped sharply from $28.3 trillion in 1986, said Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the country’s top economic daily, quoting figures from the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and Japan’s Economic Planning Agency.

In 1985, Japan’s assets were $19.6 trillion, $11 trillion behind those of the United States, the paper said. It said the statistics at the end of 1987 were the latest available from the two countries.

Contributing to the increase in Japan’s assets were soaring stock and land prices, coupled with a nominal increase in the overall national assets caused by the Japanese currency’s appreciation against the U.S. dollar, the report said.

According to U.S. Federal Reserve Board figures, the United States had $30.6 trillion in assets at the end of 1985, $34 trillion in 1986 and $36.2 trillion in 1987, the newspaper said.