Between 2005 and 2020, the GDP of China grew from 2.3 trillion to 14.9 trillion U.S. dollars. During the same time period the GDP of the United States grew from 13 trillion to 20.8 trillion dollars. It is estimated that, by 2030, China will overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy, with a GDP of 33.7 trillion dollars, compared to 30.5 trillion dollars; this margin of more than three trillion is predicted to increase to almost 13 trillion over the subsequent five year period.

The graph shows per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in China until 2024, with forecasts until 2030. In 2024, per capita GDP reached around 13,300 U.S. dollars in China. That year, the overall GDP of China had amounted to 18.7 trillion U.S. dollars. Per capita GDP in China Gross domestic product is a commonly-used economic indicator for measuring the state of a country's economy. GDP is the total market value of goods and services produced in a country within a given period of time, usually a year. Per capita GDP is defined as the GDP divided by the total number of people in the country. This indicator is generally used to compare the economic prosperity of countries with varying population sizes.In 2010, China overtook Japan and became the world’s second-largest economy. As of 2024, it was the largest exporter and the second largest importer in the world. However, one reason behind its economic strength lies within its population size. China has to distribute its wealth among 1.4 billion people. By 2023, China's per capita GDP was only about one fourth as large as that of main industrialized countries. When compared to other emerging markets, China ranked second among BRIC countries in terms of GDP per capita. Future development According to projections by the IMF, per capita GDP in China will escalate from around 13,300 U.S. dollars in 2024 to 18,600 U.S. dollars in 2030. Major reasons for this are comparatively high economic growth rates combined with negative population growth. China's economic structure is also undergoing changes. A major trend lies in the shift from an industry-based to a service-based economy.

In the second quarter of 2025, the growth of the real gross domestic product (GDP) in China ranged at *** percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. GDP refers to the total market value of all goods and services that are produced within a country per year. It is an important indicator of the economic strength of a country. Real GDP is adjusted for price changes and is therefore regarded as a key indicator for economic growth. GDP growth in China In 2024, China ranged second among countries with the largest gross domestic product worldwide. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, the country has experienced rapid social and economic development. In 2013, it became the world’s largest trading nation, overtaking the United States. However, per capita GDP in China was still much lower than that of industrialized countries. Until 2011, the annual growth rate of China’s GDP had constantly been above nine percent. However, economic growth has cooled down since and is projected to further slow down gradually in the future. Rising domestic wages and the competitive edge of other Asian and African countries are seen as main reasons for the stuttering in China’s economic engine. One strategy of the Chinese government to overcome this transition is a gradual shift of economic focus from industrial production to services. Challenges to GDP growth Another major challenge lies in the massive environmental pollution that China’s reckless economic growth has caused over the past decades. China’s development has been powered mostly by coal consumption, which resulted in high air pollution. To counteract industrial pollution, further investments in waste management and clean technologies are necessary. In 2017, about **** percent of GDP was spent on pollution control. Surging environmental costs aside, environmental issues could also be a key to industrial transition as China placed major investments in renewable energy and clean tech projects. The consumption of green energy skyrocketed from **** exajoules in 2005 to **** million in 2022.

In 2025, the United States had the largest economy in the world, with a gross domestic product of over 30 trillion U.S. dollars. China had the second largest economy, at around 19.23 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 Russia'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.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the BRICS countries have been considered the five foremost developing economies in the world. Originally, the term BRIC was used by economists when talking about the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, however these countries have held annual summits since 2009, and the group has expanded to include South Africa since 2010. China has the largest GDP of the BRICS country, at 16.86 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, while the others are all below three trillion. Combined, the BRICS bloc has a GDP over 25.85 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, which is slightly more than the United States. BRICS economic development China has consistently been the largest economy of this bloc, and its rapid growth has seen it become the second largest economy in the world, behind the U.S.. China's growth has also been much faster than the other BRICS countries; for example, when compared with the second largest BRICS economy, its GDP was less than double the size of Brazil's in 2000, but is almost six times larger than India's in 2021. Since 2000, the country with the second largest GDP has fluctuated between Brazil, Russia, and India, due to a variety of factors, although India has held this position since 2015 (when the other two experienced recession), and it's growth rate is on track to surpass China's in the coming decade. South Africa has consistently had the smallest economy of the BRICS bloc, and it has just the third largest economy in Africa; its inclusion in this group is due to the fact that it is the most advanced and stable major economy in Africa, and it holds strategic importance due to the financial potential of the continent in the coming decades. Future developments It is predicted that China's GDP will overtake that of the U.S. by the end of the 2020s, to become the largest economy in the world, while some also estimate that India will also overtake the U.S. around the middle of the century. Additionally, the BRICS group is more than just an economic or trading bloc, and its New Development Bank was established in 2014 to invest in sustainable infrastructure and renewable energy across the globe. While relations between its members were often strained or of less significance in the 20th century, their current initiatives have given them a much greater international influence. The traditional great powers represented in the Group of Seven (G7) have seen their international power wane in recent decades, while BRICS countries have seen theirs grow, especially on a regional level. Today, the original BRIC countries combine with the Group of Seven (G7), to make up 11 of the world's 12 largest economies, but it is predicted that they will move further up on this list in the coming decades.

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.

As of 2020, Chinese FDI flow to Africa amounted to *** billion U.S. dollars. In the same period, Foreign Direct Investment from the United States totaled *** billion U.S. dollars. This trend - higher Chinese than American FDI flows to Africa - has been observed since 2013, when China overtook the U.S. regarding investment flows to the continent.

This statistic shows the total GDP of the countries who formed the G7 and the E7 in 2015, alongside a project for the year 2050. The G7 includes; the United States, Japan, Germany, The United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Canada. The E7 includes; China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico, and Turkey. The projected GDP total of the E7 countries for 2050 was ***** trillion U.S. dollars.

In 2023, London had a gross domestic product of over 569 billion British pounds, by far the most of any region of the United Kingdom. The region of South East England which surrounds London had the second-highest GDP in this year, at over 360 billion pounds. North West England, which includes the major cities of Manchester and Liverpool, had the third-largest GDP among UK regions, at almost 250 billion pounds. Levelling Up the UK London’s economic dominance of the UK can clearly be seen when compared to the other regions of the country. In terms of GDP per capita, the gap between London and the rest of the country is striking, standing at over 63,600 pounds per person in the UK capital, compared with just over 37,100 pounds in the rest of the country. To address the economic imbalance, successive UK governments have tried to implement "levelling-up policies", which aim to boost investment and productivity in neglected areas of the country. The success of these programs going forward may depend on their scale, as it will likely take high levels of investment to reverse economic neglect regions have faced in the recent past. Overall UK GDP The gross domestic product for the whole of the United Kingdom amounted to 2.56 trillion British pounds in 2024. During this year, GDP grew by 0.9 percent, following a growth rate of 0.4 percent in 2023. Due to the overall population of the UK growing faster than the economy, however, GDP per capita in the UK fell in both 2023 and 2024. Nevertheless, the UK remains one of the world’s biggest economies, with just five countries (the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and India) having larger economies. It is it likely that several other countries will overtake the UK economy in the coming years, with Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, and Mexico all expected to have larger economies than Britain by 2050.