Katie Warren/Business Insider
More than $4.3 billion worth of yachts were displayed at this year's Monaco Yacht Show.
- Monaco is a tiny yet lavishly wealthy city-state on the French Riviera.
- It has a zero poverty rate, and an estimated one-third of the population are millionaires.
- Monaco has been called a playground for millionaires. I am not a millionaire.
- At this year's Monaco Yacht Show, an estimated 30,000 people came to see the more than $4.3 billion worth of yachts displayed in the port.
- Guests included yachting-industry insiders - including superyacht builders, designers, and brokers - as well as wealthy private clients looking to charter or purchase yachts.
- I spent two days at this year's yacht show. It's safe to say that my experience was very different from the experience for millionaires.
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Allow me to start out by saying this: I am not a millionaire. I am a journalist. And I live in New York City, which means overpriced drinks and food are pretty par for the course.
But I did spend one fabulously ritzy week in a country that has no poverty and where 32% of the inhabitants are millionaires: Monaco.
This year's Monaco Yacht Show brought an estimated 30,000 people from around the world to the tiny city-state on the French Riviera. These attendees are yachting-industry insiders - including superyacht builders, designers, and brokers - as well as wealthy private clients looking to tour, charter, or purchase yachts.
Monaco may be smaller than New York City's Central Park, but it's one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with a per capita GDP of $165,420 - the second highest in the world after Liechtenstein. An estimated 32% - or about one-third - of the country's residents are millionaires.
And according to the CIA World Factbook, no portion of Monaco's population lives below the poverty line.
This wealth was evident from the moment I arrived in Monaco - and even while I was booking my trip.
Here's what it's like to attend the glamorous Monaco Yacht Show when you're not a millionaire.