It’s estimated that around the world, the total sum of money laundered on an annual basis equates to as much as 3.0% of global GDP – a huge £1.8trn.
For OECD nations, of which the UK is one, the sum of money laundered is estimated to sit at 1.9% of GDP, although this climbs as high as 6.1% in Belgium, with the UK sitting fourth in the table at 4.3%.
However, the research by Credas shows that when taking the GDP of each nation into account, the UK jumps to second in the table, with this 4.3% of GDP equating to a huge £87.9bn of money being laundered on an annual basis.
Just one other OECD nation sits above the UK, the United States. It’s thought that while this criminal activity only accounts for 1.4% of the nation’s GDP, this totals a huge £216.5bn across the USA every year, by far the highest sum of all OECD countries.
France (£54.5bn), Germany (£51.3bn) and Canada (£25.6bn) also rank within the top five.
In contrast, Iceland sits at the bottom of the OECD rankings, with just £370m in value followed by Estonia (£703.4m) and Latvia (£750m).
| OECD nation | Money laundering est % GDP | Est money laundering value £ |
| UNITED STATES | 1.4% | £216,549,355,045 |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 4.3% | £87,993,399,778 |
| FRANCE | 2.8% | £54,522,880,513 |
| GERMANY | 1.8% | £51,255,570,511 |
| CANADA | 2.1% | £25,558,979,280 |
| MEXICO | 3.1% | £24,645,890,047 |
| BELGIUM | 6.1% | £23,566,629,207 |
| AUSTRALIA | 2.3% | £22,609,183,520 |
| SWITZERLAND | 3.7% | £20,605,129,121 |
| SPAIN | 2.0% | £18,973,871,231 |
| ITALY | 1.3% | £18,176,951,660 |
| ISRAEL | 5.0% | £15,069,000,269 |
| JAPAN | 0.3% | £11,232,900,989 |
| SWEDEN | 2.8% | £11,218,749,842 |
| NETHERLANDS | 1.6% | £10,824,672,447 |
| IRELAND | 3.2% | £10,089,250,374 |
| AUSTRIA | 2.5% | £8,018,619,692 |
| TURKEY | 1.5% | £7,994,826,656 |
| POLAND | 1.7% | £7,508,660,146 |
| PORTUGAL | 4.2% | £7,105,957,847 |
| NORWAY | 2.4% | £6,441,078,216 |
| SOUTH KOREA | 0.5% | £6,062,738,304 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 3.2% | £4,991,473,985 |
| DENMARK | 1.8% | £4,745,025,726 |
| FINLAND | 2.1% | £4,193,681,173 |
| COLOMBIA | 1.9% | £3,818,001,985 |
| CHILE | 1.8% | £3,370,564,226 |
| HUNGARY | 2.7% | £3,114,349,016 |
| LUXEMBOURG | 5.5% | £2,986,715,833 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC | 1.5% | £2,724,513,516 |
| SLOVAKIA | 2.1% | £1,635,062,306 |
| GREECE | 1.1% | £1,537,758,689 |
| LITHUANIA | 2.6% | £1,088,416,555 |
| SLOVENIA | 2.3% | £912,475,006 |
| COSTA RICA | 1.9% | £869,929,485 |
| LATVIA | 3.0% | £748,614,160 |
| ESTONIA | 3.1% | £703,410,369 |
| ICELAND | 2.3% | £369,795,590 |
| WORLD est total | 3.0% | £1,880,677,230,664 |
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
