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.

The size of the five original BRICS economies in 2023 - Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa - is comparable to the United States and the EU-27 put together. On a PPP (purchasing power parity) basis, China ranks as the world's largest economy. India takes up the economic parity of about **** the EU-27. The rise of these developing economies gave rise to questions on the role the United States plays in international trade and cross-border finance. FX reserve managers around the world expect to shift their holdings towards the Chinese yuan in the long term, as of 2023.

Context

The European Union is a unique economic and political union between twenty-eight countries that together cover much of the continent. It was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to foster economic cooperation and thus avoid conflict. The result was the European Economic Community (EEC), established in 1958, with Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as its members. What began as an economic union has evolved into an organization spanning policy areas, from climate, environment and health to external relations and security, justice and migration. The 1993 name change from the European Economic Community (EEC) to the European Union (EU) reflected this.

The European Union has delivered more than half a century of peace, stability and prosperity, helped raise living standards and launched a single European currency: the Euro. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. The single market is the EU's main economic engine, enabling most goods, services, money and people to move freely.

Content

The European Union covers over 4 million square kilometers and has 508 million inhabitants — the world’s third largest population after China and India. This dataset includes information on each EU member state, candidate state, or European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) signatory state.

Acknowledgements

The membership, population, and economic data was published by the European Commission's Eurostat. Gross domestic product and GDP per capita in US dollars was provided by the World Bank.

Inspiration

How has the European Union grown in the past fifty years? What is the largest country by population or surface area? Which country has the largest economy by gross domestic product? How many different languages are spoken across all the member states?

The average for 2023 based on 188 countries was 0.53 percent. The highest value was in the USA: 26.3 percent and the lowest value was in Andorra: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 1980 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

TThe ERS International Macroeconomic Data Set provides historical and projected data for 181 countries that account for more than 99 percent of the world economy. These data and projections are assembled explicitly to serve as underlying assumptions for the annual USDA agricultural supply and demand projections, which provide a 10-year outlook on U.S. and global agriculture. The macroeconomic projections describe the long-term, 10-year scenario that is used as a benchmark for analyzing the impacts of alternative scenarios and macroeconomic shocks.

Explore the International Macroeconomic Data Set 2015 for annual growth rates, consumer price indices, real GDP per capita, exchange rates, and more. Get detailed projections and forecasts for countries worldwide.

Annual growth rates, Consumer price indices (CPI), Real GDP per capita, Real exchange rates, Population, GDP deflator, Real gross domestic product (GDP), Real GDP shares, GDP, projections, Forecast, Real Estate, Per capita, Deflator, share, Exchange Rates, CPI

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe, WORLD Follow data.kapsarc.org for timely data to advance energy economics research. Notes:

Developed countries/1 Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Other Western Europe, European Union 27, North America

Developed countries less USA/2 Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Other Western Europe, European Union 27, Canada

Developing countries/3 Africa, Middle East, Other Oceania, Asia less Japan, Latin America;

Low-income developing countries/4 Haiti, Afghanistan, Nepal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe;

Emerging markets/5 Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, China, India, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore

BRIICs/5 Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China; Former Centrally Planned Economies

Former centrally planned economies/7 Cyprus, Malta, Recently acceded countries, Other Central Europe, Former Soviet Union

USMCA/8 Canada, Mexico, United States

Europe and Central Asia/9 Europe, Former Soviet Union

Middle East and North Africa/10 Middle East and North Africa

Other Southeast Asia outlook/11 Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam

Other South America outlook/12 Chile, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay

Indicator Source

Real gross domestic product (GDP) World Bank World Development Indicators, IHS Global Insight, Oxford Economics Forecasting, as well as estimated and projected values developed by the Economic Research Service all converted to a 2015 base year.

Real GDP per capita U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Macroeconomic Data Set, GDP table and Population table.

GDP deflator World Bank World Development Indicators, IHS Global Insight, Oxford Economics Forecasting, as well as estimated and projected values developed by the Economic Research Service, all converted to a 2015 base year.

Real GDP shares U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Macroeconomic Data Set, GDP table.

Real exchange rates U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Macroeconomic Data Set, CPI table, and Nominal XR and Trade Weights tables developed by the Economic Research Service.

Consumer price indices (CPI) International Financial Statistics International Monetary Fund, IHS Global Insight, Oxford Economics Forecasting, as well as estimated and projected values developed by the Economic Research Service, all converted to a 2015 base year.

Population Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, International Data Base.

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.

In 2024, Germany was the leading EU country in terms of population, with around 85 million inhabitants. In 2050, approximately 89.2 million people will live in Germany, according to the forecast. See the total EU population figures for more information. The global population The global population is rapidly increasing. Between 1990 and 2015, it increased by around 2 billion people. Furthermore, it is estimated that the global population will have increased by another 1 billion by 2030. Asia is the continent with the largest population, followed by Africa and Europe. In Asia,the two most populous nations worldwide are located, China and India. In 2014, the combined population in China and India alone amounted to more than 2.6 billion people. for comparison, the total population in the whole continent of Europe is at around 741 million people. As of 2014, about 60 percent of the global population was living in Asia, with only approximately 10 percent in Europe and even less in the United States. Europe is the continent with the second-highest life expectancy at birth in the world, only barely surpassed by Northern America. In 2013, the life expectancy at birth in Europe was around 78 years. Stable economies and developing and emerging markets in European countries provide for good living conditions. Seven of the top twenty countries in the world with the largest gross domestic product in 2015 are located in Europe.

In 2024, China's gross domestic product amounted to approximately ***** trillion U.S. dollars, which was the highest GDP across the Asia-Pacific region. Japan followed with a GDP of around **** 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 ***** 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.

A brief description of the provided GDP data for G20 & BRICS countries from 2008 to 2021 in five lines:

The data represents the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of G20 countries, a group of major economies, over a 15-year period from 2008 to 2022.

It shows the varying economic sizes of G20 nations, with China and the United States consistently having the largest GDP, while smaller economies like Argentina and South Africa have considerably smaller GDPs.

Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had a significant impact, causing some countries' GDPs to contract temporarily before rebounding in 2021.

Japan, despite its size, experienced relatively stable GDP growth, while emerging economies like India and Indonesia demonstrated notable expansion over the years.

The European Union (EU) is not individually listed but represents a significant portion of the global economy, contributing to the overall global GDP figures.

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.

This dataset provides values for PRIVATE DEBT TO GDP reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

From the Summer of 2007 until the end of 2009 (at least), the world was gripped by a series of economic crises commonly known as the Global Financial Crisis (2007-2008) and the Great Recession (2008-2009). The financial crisis was triggered by the collapse of the U.S. housing market, which caused panic on Wall Street, the center of global finance in New York. Due to the outsized nature of the U.S. economy compared to other countries and particularly the centrality of U.S. finance for the world economy, the crisis spread quickly to other countries, affecting most regions across the globe. By 2009, global GDP growth was in negative territory, with international credit markets frozen, international trade contracting, and tens of millions of workers being made unemployed.

Global similarities, global differences

Since the 1980s, the world economy had entered a period of integration and globalization. This process particularly accelerated after the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the Cold War (1947-1991). This was the period of the 'Washington Consensus', whereby the U.S. and international institutions such as the World Bank and IMF promoted policies of economic liberalization across the globe. This increasing interdependence and openness to the global economy meant that when the crisis hit in 2007, many countries experienced the same issues. This is particularly evident in the synchronization of the recessions in the most advanced economies of the G7. Nevertheless, the aggregate global GDP number masks the important regional differences which occurred during the recession. While the more advanced economies of North America, Western Europe, and Japan were all hit hard, along with countries who are reliant on them for trade or finance, large emerging economies such as India and China bucked this trend. In particular, China's huge fiscal stimulus in 2008-2009 likely did much to prevent the global economy from sliding further into a depression. In 2009, while the United States' GDP sank to -2.6 percent, China's GDP, as reported by national authorities, was almost 10 percent.

The gross domestic product of the United Kingdom in 2024 was around 2.78 trillion British pounds, an increase when compared to the previous year, when UK GDP amounted to about 2.75 trillion pounds. The significant drop in GDP visible in 2020 was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the smaller declines in 2008 and 2009 because of the global financial crisis of the late 2000s. Low growth problem in the UK Despite growing by 0.9 percent in 2024, and 0.4 percent in 2023 the UK economy is not that much larger than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since recovering from a huge fall in GDP in the second quarter of 2020, the UK economy has alternated between periods of contraction and low growth, with the UK even in a recession at the end of 2023. While economic growth picked up somewhat in 2024, GDP per capita is lower than it was in 2022, following two years of negative growth. UK's global share of GDP falling As of 2024, the UK had the sixth-largest economy in the world, behind the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and India. Among European nations, this meant that the UK currently has the second-largest economy in Europe, although the economy of France, Europe's third-largest economy, is of a similar size. The UK's global economic ranking will likely fall in the coming years, however, with the UK's share of global GDP expected to fall from 2.16 percent in 2025 to 2.02 percent by 2029.  

The Global Financial Crisis (2007-2008), which began due to the collapse of the U.S. housing market, had a negative effect in many regions across the globe. The global recession which followed the crisis in 2008 and 2009 showed how interdependent and synchronized many of the world's economies had become, with the largest advanced economies showing very similar patterns of negative GDP growth during the crisis. Among the largest emerging economies (commonly referred to as the 'E7'), however, a different pattern emerged, with some countries avoiding a recession altogether. Some commentators have particularly pointed to 2008-2009 as the moment in which China emerged on the world stage as an economic superpower and a key driver of global economic growth. The Great Recession in the developing world While some countries, such as Russia, Mexico, and Turkey, experienced severe recessions due to their connections to the United States and Europe, others such as China, India, and Indonesia managed to record significant economic growth during the period. This can be partly explained by the decoupling from western financial systems which these countries undertook following the Asian financial crises of 1997, making many Asian nations more wary of opening their countries to 'hot money' from other countries. Other likely explanations of this trend are that these countries have large domestic economies which are not entirely reliant on the advanced economies, that their export sectors produce goods which are inelastic (meaning they are still bought during recessions), and that the Chinese economic stimulus worth almost 600 billion U.S. dollars in 2008/2009 increased growth in the region.

This statistic shows Iran's main import partners in 2023, sorted by their share in total imports. In 2023, Iran's main import partner was the China with a share of 34 percent in all imports. Iran's struggling economy Iran’s main import partners in descending order of importance include the United Arab Emirates, China, Algeria, India, South Korea and Turkey. Together the United Arab Emirates and China compose over 50 percent of all imports. No European countries or the United States are close trade partners with Iran for neither imports nor exports. Iran has been isolated from the west with sanctions due to concerns over the country's role in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction for decades. In 2011, further sanctions on Iran from the United States and Europe were agreed upon, which negatively affected Iran’s economy. This also had an effect on the value of totalimports into the country which also dropped slightly around the same period. This is likely due to the fact that Iran’s GDP per capita also reduced significantly thereafter, limiting the country’s capacity to import goods. Compared to the GDP per capita of Saudi Arabia, Iran’s is significantly lower. Aside from the Saudi Arabian oil trade, one difference could be attributed to the fact that Saudi Arabia, in contrast to Iran, has developed strong international ties and trades freely with Europe and the United States, whereas Iran remains isolated for the time being.