This is the third and last post (for now) examining parliament from the perspective of members’ annual financial statements. The previous posts showed that members of parliament are in general wealthier in comparison to the rest of the population, but their wealth is highly variable with some doing exceedingly well and most looking poor in comparison to the overachievers. However, as a body, how wealthy is parliament?
Table 1 presents the total net worth of parliament from 2008 to 2011, which is essentially equal to the area below the lines in Figures 1-4 in the first post.
| Table 1. Total Net Worth of Parliament by Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | MNT | USD |
| 2008 | 171 billion | 127 million |
| 2009 | 179 billion | 133 million |
| 2010 | 163 billion | 121 million |
| 2011 | 189 billion | 140 million |
A comparison to put these numbers in perspective. The net worth of parliament’s members in 2011 is approximately equivalent to 29,100 people’s portion of Mongolia’s GDP for that year.1Parliament has 76 members. Even more striking is that a mere 6 of those MPs accounted for half of the wealth in parliament in 2011!
Footnotes
1. Estimate GDP per capita of $4,800 in 2011, according to the CIA World Factbook, times 29,100 people equals approximately $140 million (189 billion MNT).