Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 30, 1994                   TAG: 9412300128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. GETS MORE FOR ITS MONEY

For example, the bank said Thursday, the average Swiss earned the equivalent in U.S. dollars of $36,410 last year, the average American $24,750. But when the income was measured against prices in the two countries, the bank found the value of the Swiss income dropped to $23,620.

The World Bank, which collects data on 209 areas, has been publishing income figures for 27 years in its ``World Bank Atlas.'' The latest edition, available this week, is the first to include comparisons based not only on income but also on what the money will buy.

Citizens of four other countries earn more than Americans, though they can buy less with those incomes: Japan, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Tiny Luxembourg is an oddity. Purchasing power in the grand duchy comes out as $29,510 for each of the 401,000 Luxembourgers, more than for the average American. This may be a statistical quirk due to Luxembourg's status as a big international financial center. Large sums earned by companies registered in Luxembourg may actually be paid mostly to stockholders in other countries.

Mozambique, in southeast Africa, is listed as the world's poorest country with an average income of $80 a year. Formerly a Portuguese colony, Mozambique began emerging only in October from a civil war that lasted 15 years.

When prices are taken into account, Ethiopia joins Mozambique at the bottom of the list, with the purchasing power of the average citizen in both countries at $380 a year - a little more than a dollar a day.