More than two dozen countries saw their wealth per capita fall in the 20 years to 2014, according to the most comprehensive attempt so far to produce a “balance sheet” of nations’ assets.

The World Bank study seeks to provide a more comprehensive picture of economic progress than gross domestic product data alone.

It tracks four different types of capital for 141 countries between 1995 and 2011: produced capital (such as roads, machinery and buildings); human capital (based on estimating the present value of a labour force’s future earnings); financial capital (net foreign assets); and natural capital (mainly sub-soil energy resources, minerals, forests and agricultural land).