In 2024, the United States had the largest economy in the world, with a gross domestic product of just under 29 trillion U.S. dollars. China had the second largest economy, at around 18.5 trillion U.S. dollars. Recent adjustments in the list have seen Germany's economy overtake Japan's to become the third-largest in the world in 2023, while Brazil's economy moved ahead of Italy's in 2024. Global gross domestic product Global gross domestic product amounts to almost 110 trillion U.S. dollars, with the United States making up more than one-quarter of this figure alone. The 12 largest economies in the world include all Group of Seven (G7) economies, as well as the four largest BRICS economies. The U.S. has consistently had the world's largest economy since the interwar period, and while previous reports estimated it would be overtaken by China in the 2020s, more recent projections estimate the U.S. economy will remain the largest by a considerable margin going into the 2030s.The gross domestic product of a country is calculated by taking spending and trade into account, to show how much the country can produce in a certain amount of time, usually per year. It represents the value of all goods and services produced during that year. Those countries considered to have emerging or developing economies account for almost 60 percent of global gross domestic product, while advanced economies make up over 40 percent.

In 1938, the year before the Second World War, the United States had, by far, the largest economy in the world in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). The five Allied Great Powers that emerged victorious from the war, along with the three Axis Tripartite Pact countries that were ultimately defeated made up the eight largest independent economies in 1938.

When values are converted into 1990 international dollars, the U.S. GDP was over 800 billion dollars in 1938, which was more than double that of the second largest economy, the Soviet Union. Even the combined economies of the UK, its dominions, and colonies had a value of just over 680 billion 1990 dollars, showing that the United States had established itself as the world's leading economy during the interwar period (despite the Great Depression).

Interestingly, the British and Dutch colonies had larger combined GDPs than their respective metropoles, which was a key motivator for the Japanese invasion of these territories in East Asia during the war. Trade with neutral and non-belligerent countries also contributed greatly to the economic development of Allied and Axis powers throughout the war; for example, natural resources from Latin America were essential to the American war effort, while German manufacturing was often dependent on Swedish iron supplies.

In 2023, China's gross domestic product amounted to approximately 17.7 trillion U.S. dollars, which was the highest GDP across the Asia-Pacific region. Japan followed with a GDP of around 4.2 trillion dollars.  China, Asia-Pacific's titan The significance of the Asia-Pacific region to the world is multifaceted, ranging from geopolitical importance to being home to more than half of the world's population. Characterized by emerging countries and dynamic economic activities, the region plays a key role in the global economy. China, the most populous country after India, and the second largest economy on the planet, accounted for about half of the total gross domestic product (GDP) in APAC as of 2023. The GDP growth in China was characterized by high rates for decades. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has struggled to catch up with the previous level of growth rates and was forecast to stay at more modest real GDP growth rates in the coming years.  A new paradigm of development in the Asia-Pacific region Even though the Asia-Pacific region has made significant economic improvements in the last decades, from a developmental perspective, tackling existing socio-economic issues will be critical for future growth. An aspect worth mentioning is the GDP per capita in the region. EU countries, for example, had about three times as much GDP per capita compared to East Asia and the Pacific region in 2022. China has been working towards changing its economic focus to high-tech and service sectors while reducing its concentration on agriculture.

Throughout the Second World War, the United States consistently had the largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world. Additionally, U.S. GDP grew significantly throughout the war, whereas the economies of Europe and Japan saw relatively little growth, and were often in decline. The impact of key events in the war is also reflected in the trends shown here - the economic declines of France and the Soviet Union coincide with the years of German invasion, while the economies of the three Axis countries experienced their largest declines in the final year of the war.

The statistic shows the ifo World Economic Climate Index from the fourth quarter 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2019. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the ifo World Economic Climate Index reached a value of -18.8.

The global economy and globalization

The global economy includes the economies of all nations and countries. Its key figures and values are often represented in US dollars; the United States is the world’s largest economy, leading the ranking of the countries with the largest gross domestic product / GDP. Gross domestic product is considered to be the most important factor when it comes to an economy’s strength and power.

Apart from gross domestic product, other indicators for the state of the world economy are GDP per capita and the GDP growth rate, inflation rate, unemployment rate, median income (which shows the purchasing power parity of a country) and trade balance (imports and exports). Global debt, as calculated from the amount of national debt of all countries, is also an important factor.

One term that is inevitably connected to the global economy is “globalization”, the global expansion of national or local economy. Globalization is a controversial topic. Many critics believe that it leads to the demise of local businesses and industries and thus only benefits large companies and conglomerates, who, in their aim to expand, open subsidiaries all over the world. A significant part of globalization is outsourcing, which leads to job loss in certain areas and cheap labor in others.

The global economy suffered a setback in 2009 when the financial crisis hit and left several countries in severe financial distress. Growth of the global gross domestic product / gdp shows a deficit that year, but it has been back to stable values since.

Japan recorded the lowest growth rate in average wages of the three advanced major economies included here over recent years. However, wages growth started increasing more in June and July 2024. The wage growth in both Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States stood at around four percent in July that year.

The G7 countries' share of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) declined since 2000. While holding over 40 percent of the world's total GDP in 2000, this had dropped below 30 percent by 2024, a development that must be seen in relation with China's economic development over the past decades. Of the G7 countries, the United States held the largest share of the world's GDP at 15 percent in terms of purchasing-power-parity (PPP).

In September 2024, the global PMI amounted to 47.5 for new export orders and 48.8 for manufacturing. The manufacturing PMI was at its lowest point in August 2020. It decreased over the last months of 2022 after the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war and rising inflation hit the world economy, and remained around 50 since.

Out of the world's seven largest economies, the United Kingdom was the most negatively affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. During the third quarter of 2020, the GDP growth rate of the UK stood at minus 7.7 percent compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the GDPs of India and Japan were contracted by minus 5.3 percent. Only China experienced a positive GDP growth rate of 4.9 percent during that same period. However, in 2021, all the largest economies worldwide started to recover, with growth rates varying from 1.2 percent (Japan) to over nine percent (India).

China has seen rapid economic growth over the past decades, overtaking Japan in 2010 as the second largest economy in the world. In 2024, only the United States had a larger gross domestic product (GDP) than China. On the other hand, Japan's economy is struggling amid an aging population, it's GDP decreasing after peaking in 2012.

The statistic shows global gross domestic product (GDP) from 1985 to 2022, with projections up until 2029. In 2020, global GDP amounted to about 85.52 trillion U.S. dollars, two and a half trillion lower than in 2019. Gross domestic product Gross domestic product, also known as GDP, is the accumulated value of all finished goods and services produced in a country, often measured annually. GDP is significant in determining the economic health, growth and productivity in the country, and is a stat often used when comparing several countries at a time, most likely in order to determine which country has seen the most progress. Until 2020, Global GDP had experienced a growth every year since 2010. However, a strong growth rate does not necessarily lead to all positive outcomes and often has a negative effect on inflation rates. A severe growth in GDP leads to lower unemployment, however lower unemployment often leads to higher inflation rates due to demand increasing at a much higher rate than supply and as a result prices rise accordingly. In terms of unemployment, growth had been fairly stagnant since the economic downturn of 2007-2009, but it remains to be seen what the total impact of the coronavirus pandemic will be on total employment.

In 2023, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China amounted to around 17.8 trillion U.S. dollars. In comparison to the GDP of the other BRIC countries India, Russia and Brazil, China came first that year and second in the world GDP ranking. The stagnation of China's GDP in U.S. dollar terms in 2022 and 2023 was mainly due to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar. China's real GDP growth was three percent in 2022 and 5.2 percent in 2023. In 2023, per capita GDP in China reached around 12,600 U.S. dollars. Economic performance in China Gross domestic product (GDP) is a primary economic indicator. It measures the total value of all goods and services produced in an economy over a certain time period. China's economy used to grow quickly in the past, but the growth rate of China’s real GDP gradually slowed down in recent years, and year-on-year GDP growth is forecasted to range at only around four percent in the years after 2023. Since 2010, China has been the world’s second-largest economy, surpassing Japan.China’s emergence in the world’s economy has a lot to do with its status as the ‘world’s factory’. Since 2013, China is the largest export country in the world. Some argue that it is partly due to the undervalued Chinese currency. The Big Mac Index, a simplified and informal way to measure the purchasing power parity between different currencies, indicates that the Chinese currency yuan was roughly undervalued by 31 percent in 2023. GDP development Although the impressive economic development in China has led millions of people out of poverty, China is still not in the league of industrialized countries on the per capita basis. To name one example, the U.S. per capita economic output was more than six times as large as in China in 2023. Meanwhile, the Chinese society faces increased income disparities. The Gini coefficient of China, a widely used indicator of economic inequality, has been larger than 0.45 over the last decade, whereas 0.40 is the warning level for social unrest.

This statistic shows the share of economic sectors in the global gross domestic product (GDP) from 2013 to 2023. In 2022, agriculture contributed 4.25 percent, industry contributed approximately 27.22 percent and services contributed about 61.76 percent to the global gross domestic product. See global GDP for comparison.

This statistic shows the projected top ten largest national economies in 2050. By 2050, China is forecasted to have a gross domestic product of over 58 trillion U.S. dollars.

Since 1980, Europe's largest economies have consistently been France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, although the former Soviet Union's economy was the largest in the 1980s, and Russia's economy has been larger than Spain's since 2010. Since Soviet dissolution, Germany has always had the largest economy in Europe, while either France or the UK has had the second largest economy depending on the year. Italy's economy was of a relatively similar size to that of the UK and France until the mid 2000s when it started to diverge, resulting in a difference of approximately 800 billion U.S dollars by 2018. Russia's economy had overtaken both Italy and Spain's in 2012, but has fallen since 2014 due to the drop in international oil prices and the economic sanctions imposed for its annexation of Crimea - economic growth is expected to be comparatively low in Russia in the coming years due to the economic fallout of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In 2023, the U.S. GDP increased from the previous year to about 27.36 trillion U.S. dollars. This increase in GDP can be attributed to a continued rebound from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to the market value of all goods and services produced within a country. In 2023, the United States has the largest economy in the world. See, for example, the Russian GDP for comparison.

What is GDP? Gross domestic product is one of the most important indicators used to analyze the health of an economy. GDP is defined by the BEA as the market value of goods and services produced by labor and property in the United States, regardless of nationality. It is the primary measure of U.S. production. The OECD defines GDP as an aggregate measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident, institutional units engaged in production (plus any taxes, and minus any subsidies, on products not included in the value of their outputs).

GDP and national debt

Although the United States had the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world in 2022, this does not tell us much about the quality of life in any given country. GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) is an economic measurement that is thought to be a better method for comparing living standards across countries because it accounts for domestic inflation and variations in the cost of living.

While the United States might have the largest economy, the country that ranked highest in terms of GDP at PPP was Luxembourg, amounting to around 141,333 international dollars per capita. Singapore, Ireland, and Qatar also ranked highly on the GDP PPP list, and the United States ranked 9th in 2022.

In 2023, the real gross domestic product (GDP) in the Philippines grew by approximately 5.55 percent, marking the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia. In comparison, Singapore's real GDP growth rate dropped to less than 1.1 percent. Most Southeast Asian economies are projected to see an increase in their real GDP growth rates in 2025 compared to 2023, except for Laos and Myanmar. Southeast Asia, a tapestry of economic and cultural complexity Historically a critical component of global trade, Southeast Asia is a diverse region with heterogeneous economies. The region comprises 11 countries in total. While Singapore is a highly developed country economy and Brunei has a relatively high GDP per capita, the rest of the Southeast Asian countries are characterized by lower GDPs per capita and have yet to overcome the middle-income trap. Malaysia is one of these countries, having reached the middle-income level for many decades but yet to grow incomes proportionally to its economic development. Nevertheless, Southeast Asia’s young population will further drive economic growth across the region’s markets. ASEAN’s economic significance Aiming to promote economic growth, social progress, cultural development, and regional stability, all Southeast Asian countries except for Timor-Leste are part of the political and economic union Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Even though many concerns surround the union, ASEAN has avoided trade conflicts and is one of the largest and most dynamic trade zones globally. Factors such as the growing young population, high GDP growth, a largely positive trade balance, and exemplary regional integration hold great potential for future economic development in Southeast Asia.

In 2023, Puerto Rico and The Bahamas were the states with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Latin America and the Caribbean. The average GDP generated per person in the Bahamas amounted to 34,749 U.S. dollars, whereas the average wealth created per capita in Puerto Rico was estimated at around 34,749 U.S. dollars. In that same year, this region's lowest GDP per capita was that of Haiti, at less than 1,693 U.S. dollars per person per year. The largest economies in Latin America GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. It is an important indicator to measure the economic strength of a country and the average wealth of its population. By far, the two largest economies in the region are Brazil and Mexico, both registering GDPs three times bigger than the third place, Argentina. Nonetheless, they are the two most populated countries by a great margin.
Key economic indicators of Latin America Latin America emerges as an important region in the world economy, as of 2023, around 7.3 percent of the global GDP, a similar share to the Middle East. Nevertheless, the economic development of most of its countries has been heavily affected by other factors, such as corruption, inequality, inflation, or crime and violence. Countries such as Venezuela, Suriname, and Argentina are constantly ranking among the highest inflation rates in the world. While Jamaica, Ecuador, and Haiti rank as some of the most crime-ridden states.

Singapore led the Index of Economic Freedom in 2024, with an index score of 83.5 out of 100. Switzerland, Ireland, Taiwan, and Luxembourg rounded out the top five. Economic Freedom Index In order to calculate the Economic Freedom Index, the source takes 12 different factors into account, including the rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. All 12 factors are rated on a scale of zero to 100 and are weighted equally. Every country is rated within the Index in order to provide insight into the health and freedom of the global economy. Singapore's economy Singapore is one of the four so-called Asian Tigers, a term used to describe four countries in Asia that saw a booming economic development from the 1950s to the early 1990. Today, the City-State is known for its many skyscrapers, and its economy continue to boom. It has one of the lowest tax-rates in the Asia-Pacific region, and continues to be open towards foreign direct investment (FDI). Moreover, Singapore has one of the highest trade-to-GDP ratios worldwide, underlining its export-oriented economy. Finally, its geographic location has given it a strategic position as a center connecting other countries in the region with the outside world. However, the economic boom has come at a cost, with the city now ranked among the world's most expensive.

The statistic shows the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States from 1987 to 2023, with projections up until 2029. The gross domestic product of the United States in 2023 amounted to around 27.72 trillion U.S. dollars. The United States and the economy The United States’ economy is by far the largest in the world; a status which can be determined by several key factors, one being gross domestic product: A look at the GDP of the main industrialized and emerging countries shows a significant difference between US GDP and the GDP of China, the runner-up in the ranking, as well as the followers Japan, Germany and France. Interestingly, it is assumed that China will have surpassed the States in terms of GDP by 2030, but for now, the United States is among the leading countries in almost all other relevant rankings and statistics, trade and employment for example. See the U.S. GDP growth rate here. Just like in other countries, the American economy suffered a severe setback when the economic crisis occurred in 2008. The American economy entered a recession caused by the collapsing real estate market and increasing unemployment. Despite this, the standard of living is considered quite high; life expectancy in the United States has been continually increasing slightly over the past decade, the unemployment rate in the United States has been steadily recovering and decreasing since the crisis, and the Big Mac Index, which represents the global prices for a Big Mac, a popular indicator for the purchasing power of an economy, shows that the United States’ purchasing power in particular is only slightly lower than that of the euro area.