Singapore is the world’s third richest country, ranking behind only Qatar and Luxembourg, according to America’s Forbes magazine.

Forbes said Singapore “thrives as a technology, manufacturing and finance hub with a gross domestic product per capita of nearly $56,700.”

This compares with a per capita GDP adjusted for purchasing power of more than $88,000 for the wealthiest nation, Qatar. The oil-rich sovereign Arab state has a population of 1.7 million.

Coming in second, with just over $81,000 GDP per capita, was Luxembourg. Bordered by Belgium, France and Germany, the tiny state has only a half-million residents but is a financial hub with banking secrecy laws that makes it a tax haven, according to Forbes.

The magazine said it compiled its rich list by examining the GDP of 182 countries, adjusted for PPP, which is preferred by economists when doing international comparisons. It says this takes into account the relative cost of living and inflation rates mostly from 2010 figures.

Forbes cites associate professor of economics Gian Luca Clementi, of New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, as saying that “the numbers must be taken with a grain of salt”.

That is because there are a host of issues that can make any GDP comparisons misleading, including how the quality of goods varies from country to country, he said.

“Also, in some countries, the wealth is equally distributed, while in others it’s very unequally distributed,” Clementi said. “In Qatar, for example, the way it’s distributed is very unequal, and much of the population is actually very poor. The GDP is high because of oil revenues."

The top 10 list includes Norway at fourth place, Brunei at fifth, the UAE at sixth place followed by the US at number seven, and Hong Kong in eighth place with GDP (PPP) per capita of $45,944. Switzerland and the Netherlands were ninth and tenth place, respectively.