How they stack up
GDP - Gross Domestic Product – is what is used for the measurement of national income and output for the economy of a country. In 2007, the CIA World Factbook calculated the world GDP at $65.61 trillion. PPP GDP - Purchasing Power Parity is used to determine the relative values of two currencies. The United States, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom are some of the world’s most economically competitive countries.
The United States have dominated the twentieth century in terms of economic power. The US economy is currently the world’s largest economy, with a GDP at $13.860 trillion, the equivalent of over twenty-five per cent of the whole world’s GDP. The China economy comes in second, with purchasing power parity at $7.055 trillion and a GDP of $3.281 trillion. It started implementing economic reforms in the second half of the1970s. This Asian giant has stormed in the world’s top five, as the fastest growing economy. Experts estimate that, by 2025, China will replace the United States as the world’s largest economy.
Japan has a GDP of $4.377 trillion. The World Bank ranks the Japan economy third in terms of purchasing power parity. The country’s per capita annual income is $37,670, the 25th highest in the world. Japan masters work ethic and high technology, making it second most powerful economy on the
globe as far as technology is concerned. India ranks world’s forth largest economic power, having a GDP in purchasing power parity terms of $ 2,965 trillion. The India economy is also very fast growing, although it has a low annual per capita income of approximately $1000. It has 2 per cent of the global GDP, with a GDP at $54.347 trillion. Germany is the fifth largest economy on the globe. It represents Europe’s largest economy, having a GDP in purchasing power parity at $2,833 trillion, the Germany economy has expanded 2% in 2007, but this growth might go under 2% in 2008. It has a per capita income at $38,860 – twenty-third highest in the world. In the sixth place there is the United Kingdom with purchasing power parity at $2,147 trillion. The UK economy has huge per capita income of $42,740, one of the highest of the larger economies. Russia comes in seventh in the world. It has a PPP at $2,076 trillion.
Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister in Russia, commented that, by the end of 2008, the Russian economy will become world’s sixth largest economy, as it has been developing in a rapid manner over the past eight years. France is also one of the world’s largest economies, with a PPP at $2,067 trillion, making it world’s eight’s largest. The French economy has the 24th highest per capita income in the world at $38,500.
The Brazil economy
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| The World's Largest Economies |
