First Published: 28th of April, 2022. Guyana, South America. GSA News
Last updated: April 25, 2023 at 17:04 pm
Fossil fuel, commonly referred to as “oil,” is truly the lifeblood of the global economy. The world currently derives about one-third of its energy resources from fossil fuels. Consequently, countries with high oil reserves tend to accumulate a lot of wealth in a short period of time. Assuming that the oil revenues are managed wisely, there are no civil unrests or war, and a low level of corruption, this wealth can easily be converted into a thriving economy and provide a life of luxury for citizens of that country.
The proven oil reserve “per capita” is calculated as the number of barrels of proven oil reserves divided by the population of the country. The proven oil reserves per capita is a theoretical indicator of how many barrels of oil we can allocate to each citizen. In other, words, if we share out all the oil in reserve to the citizens equally, how many barrels will each get?
The oil reserves per capita then, gives an idea of the impact the oil wealth is likely to have on the lives of the people of that country. If the country has a small population and large oil reserve, then the oil reserve “per capita” will be high, and the oil wealth will have the potential to more strongly impact the lives of the citizens.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the countries with the top 20 highest proven oil reserves and compare it with their population to find the proven oil reserves “per capita” for that country.
The following table extracts data from 2021-2022, and orders the data starting with the country of the highest proven oil reserves.
Country
Proven Oil Reserves (Barrels)
Population (Estimated)
Proven Oil Reserves Per Capita (Barrels)
Venezuela
298,400,000,000
28,440,000
10,492
Saudi Arabia
268,300,000,000
34,810,000
7,708
Canada
171,000,000,000
38,010,000
4,499
Iran
157,800,000,000
83,990,000
1,879
Iraq
144,200,000,000
40,220,000
3,585
Kuwait
104,000,000,000
4,271,000
24,350
Russia
103,200,000,000
144,100,000
716
United Arab Emirates
97,800,000,000
9,890,000
9,889
Libya
48,360,000,000
6,871,000
7,038
Nigeria
37,070,000,000
206,100,000
180
USA
36,520,000,000
329,500,000
111
Kazakhstan
30,000,000,000
18,750,000
1,600
Qatar
25,240,000,000
2,881,000
8,760
China
24,650,000,000
1,402,000,000
18
Brazil
15,310,000,000
212,600,000
72
Algeria
12,200,000,000
43,850,000
278
Guyana
11,000,000,000
800,000
13,750
Mexico
9,812,000,000
128,900,000
76
Angola
9,011,000,000
32,870,000
274
Ecuador
8,832,000,000
17,640,000
501
Kuwait, an oil economy of stellar economic success, boasts the highest proven oil reserves per capita in the world. With proven oil reserves of 104 billion barrels, and a population of roughly 4.3 million, Kuwait can theoretically allocate 24,350 barrels of oil per citizen. The Kuwaiti currency is more than 3 times stronger than the US dollar. The current exchange rate is 1 Kuwaiti Dinar = 3.26 US dollars.
Coming in second is Guyana with 11 billion barrels of oil and counting. If we use the generous population estimate of 800,000 for Guyana, then the proven oil reserves per capita for Guyana is 13,750.
As you can see, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Canada are the countries with the highest proven oil reserves in the world, but their huge population makes their oil reserves lower “per capita” than Guyana.
