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Which natural resource is the most valuable? Rare earths, oil, diamonds, gold? Those are some of the most obvious contenders. So, which one do you think or is it something else altogether?
These are all estimates in US dollars, but they give us some interesting ballpark figures to consider.
To date, around $1 trillion worth of diamonds have been mined and there may be as much still in the earth. Even if we tripled those estimates, that’s still “just” $6 trillion.
The most abundant rare earth mineral is Cerium which has accessible supplies of about 6.3 billion metric tons, valued at about $23.6 trillion.
So Cerium looks more attractive than diamonds, but the world’s mined and known gold reserves total about twice as much at $47 trillion.
However, at the current price of about $105 per barrel, the world’s known oil reserves total about $185.5 trillion.
Have we found our winner in oil? No, there’s one often overlooked natural resource that’s worth much, much more.
In 2025, the 340 million American people generated $30.76 trillion. The average American works for 45 years, so the American population has a lifetime value of $1,384 trillion. More than seven times greater in value than the world’s oil reserves.
Humans are the single most valuable resource on the planet. To the wealthy, we’re just one more asset class to own.
In the US, the poorest 50% share just 2.5% of all American wealth, while the wealthiest 10% have already hoarded 68.3% of the wealth. That’s with America as a democratic nation.
How much more unequal do you think the wealth share would be if America wasn’t a democracy?
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