The average for 2025 based on 174 countries was 60 index points. The highest value was in Singapore: 84 index points and the lowest value was in North Korea: 3 index points. The indicator is available from 1995 to 2025. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

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 the build up to the Second World War, the United States was the major power with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the world. In 1938, the United States also had the highest overall GDP in the world, and by a significant margin, however differences in GDP per person were much smaller. Switzerland In terms of countries that played a notable economic role in the war, the neutral country of Switzerland had the highest GDP per capita in the world. A large part of this was due to the strength of Switzerland's financial system. Most major currencies abandoned the gold standard early in the Great Depression, however the Swiss Franc remained tied to it until late 1936. This meant that it was the most stable, freely convertible currency available as the world recovered from the Depression, and other major powers of the time sold large amounts of gold to Swiss banks in order to trade internationally. Switzerland was eventually surrounded on all sides by Axis territories and lived under the constant threat of invasion in the war's early years, however Swiss strategic military planning and economic leverage made an invasion potentially more expensive than it was worth. Switzerland maintained its neutrality throughout the war, trading with both sides, although its financial involvement in the Holocaust remains a point of controversy. Why look at GDP per capita? While overall GDP is a stronger indicator of a state's ability to fund its war effort, GDP per capita is more useful in giving context to a country's economic power in relation to its size and providing an insight into living standards and wealth distribution across societies. For example, Germany and the USSR had fairly similar GDPs in 1938, whereas Germany's per capita GDP was more than double that of the Soviet Union. Germany was much more industrialized and technologically advanced than the USSR, and its citizens generally had a greater quality of life. However these factors did not guarantee victory - the fact that the Soviet Union could better withstand the war of attrition and call upon its larger population to replenish its forces greatly contributed to its eventual victory over Germany in 1945.

The average for 2024 based on 138 countries was 5.56 points. The highest value was in Finland: 7.74 points and the lowest value was in Afghanistan: 1.72 points. The indicator is available from 2013 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Until 2014, Norway's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was a lot higher than the other Nordic countries'. However, after the fall of the oil price in 2014, Norway's GDP per capita decreased, but is still the highest in the region, and it increased to over ******* U.S. dollars in 2022. Moreover, while Iceland had the lowest GDP per capita together with Finland in 2015, it had the second highest in 2023 ahead of Denmark. The Nordic countries have some of the highest GDPs per capita in the world.

Denmark donated the most significant percentage of its 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) to help Ukraine over the period between January 2022, and June 2025. Denmark contributed 2.89 percent of its GDP in bilateral aid, followed by Estonia with 2.8 percent of GDP. Besides the Nordic and Baltic countries, the Netherlands donated the largest share of GDP. Western countries sent aid to Ukraine in view of the Russian invasion that began in February 2022. Who donated the most to Ukraine? In absolute terms, the largest bilateral aid allocations to Ukraine were made by the United States, at over 114 billion euros as of June 2025. European Union (EU) institutions, such as the European Commission and the European Council, allocated the second-largest amount of assistance, at almost 63.2 billion euros. The United Kingdom (UK) was the fourth-leading source of bilateral aid. EU aid to Ukraine The EU has supported Ukraine with over 69 billion euros in financial assistance as of January 2022. Of them, the largest share of aid has been provided as additional loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Among EU members, Germany allocated the largest amount of bilateral aid to Ukraine from January 24, 2022, at around 22 billion euros, while Estonia allocated the largest share of GDP.

According to the UN's World Happiness Report, China's happiness index ranged at 5.97 points in 2024. China ranked 60th out of 143 countries. Finland, Denmark, and other European countries held the top spots in the ranking, while Afghanistan stayed at the bottom of the list. What is the happiness index? The happiness index is based on a Cantril ladder survey which is carried out annually worldwide by the polling company Gallup. Nationally representative samples of respondents are asked to value the quality of their lives at the survey moment on a 0 to 10 scale, with the worst possible life as zero and the best possible life as ten. The first World Happiness Report was published in 2012, and since then, governments are increasingly using its insights to orient public policies towards happiness. Surge in happiness in China In 2024, the happiness index in China was the highest since the beginning of the survey series. The growth in the sense of happiness has been consistent over the years except for a short period of 2018-2019. As happiness is hard to quantify, the reasons behind the dip in the curve during that time can only be hypothesized. The happiness index of 5.19 points in 2019, which was in the lower 50 percentile, did not seem to correlate with any of the usual suspects: the GDP growth, pollution levels, corruption or the perception of it, or even income inequality. The possible factors that could have affected people’s happiness were unemployment, insufficient social safety net, and several political issues. However, the country saw a surge in the sense of happiness from 2021 onwards. Successful containment of the COVID-19 pandemic that gave a greater feeling of security, fast economic recovery, and increase in the national pride could have been a few of the reasons behind the recent rising optimism in China.

The Global Gender Gap Index aims to measure the parity between men and women in four key areas: health, education, economics, and politics. At the European Union level, ******* led the ranking in the 2025 edition, with a score of **** points, followed by another Nordic country, ******, at ****.