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.

In 2025, Luxembourg was the country with the highest gross domestic product per capita in the world. Of the 20 listed countries, 13 are in Europe and five are in Asia, alongside the U.S. and Australia. There are no African or Latin American countries among the top 20. Correlation with high living standards While GDP is a useful indicator for measuring the size or strength of an economy, GDP per capita is much more reflective of living standards. For example, when compared to life expectancy or indices such as the Human Development Index or the World Happiness Report, there is a strong overlap - 14 of the 20 countries on this list are also ranked among the 20 happiest countries in 2024, and all 20 have "very high" HDIs. Misleading metrics? GDP per capita figures, however, can be misleading, and to paint a fuller picture of a country's living standards then one must look at multiple metrics. GDP per capita figures can be skewed by inequalities in wealth distribution, and in countries such as those in the Middle East, a relatively large share of the population lives in poverty while a smaller number live affluent lifestyles.

The gross domestic product of the United Kingdom was around 2.56 trillion British pounds, an increase when compared to the previous year, when UK GDP amounted to about 2.54 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.  

Attitudes towards the European Union. Globalisation. Assessment of the economic and financial crisis, and the EU policy.

Topics: 1. Standard trends and attitudes towards the EU: general life satisfaction; assessment of the national and the European economic situation; assessment of the world economic situation; assessment of the personal job situation and the financial situation of the own household; assessment of the situation on the labour market in the own country and the situation in the environment in the own country; assessment of the national situation compared to the average of the European Union countries regarding the economic situation, the situation on the labour market, cost of living, energy prices, quality of life, and the situation of the environment; future expectations in the above fields; most important problems of the country; EU membership of the own country is a good thing; benefits from the own country’s membership in the EU; development of the own country, the EU, and the USA in the right direction; trust in institutions (media, internet, army, national legal system, political parties, national government, national parliament, European Union, United Nations, regional or local authorities, and NATO); positive or negative image of the EU; EU´s main features; knowledge test on the EU institutions: European Parliament, European Commission, Council of the European Union, European Central Bank; confidence in these institutions; attitude towards a European Monetary Union; attitude towards the enlargement of the EU; assessment of the speed of building Europe; the EU´s most important issues; knowledge test about the EU: number of member states, result of the Irish referendum; membership of Switzerland (Split A) and Iceland (Split B) in the EU; satisfaction with the democracy in the own country and in the EU; understanding of the processes of the EU; assessment regarding the consideration of national interests in the EU; assessment of the EU´s growth speed; citizens of different countries share more common characteristics than differences; lack of ideas for Europe; the EU must meet the global challenges.

1. The EU, the world, and globalisation: most important factors for the global influence of a country or of a group of countries; assignment of these factors to the EU; attitude towards globalisation (scale: opportunity for economic growth, increasing social inequalities, demand for global governance, identical interests of the USA and the EU in dealing with globalisation, protects from price increases, peacekeeping, threat to national culture, is profitable only for large companies but not for the citizens, leads to foreign investment in the own country, promotes the development of poorer countries, leading to more openness to other cultures, the EU has sufficient power to defend their economic interests, EU protects its citizens from the negative effects of globalisation (Split A) or enables European citizens to better benefit from the positive effects of globalisation (Split B); globalisation as an opportunity or as a threat to the national economy; comparison of the performance of the European economy with the American, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Russian and Brazilian economy; preferred orientation of the national society to meet global challenges.

2. Economic and financial crisis: expected worsening or recovery of the economic crisis; expected development of the individual financial situation of the household in the next months; most important actors to combat the crisis; positive or negative associations with the following terms (image): company, welfare state, competitiveness, free trade, protectionism, globalisation, liberalisation, trade union, reforms, public administration, flexibility, competition, security, and solidarity; attitude towards a free enterprise economy (scale: too strong intervention of the state in the lives of the individuals, economic growth prior to environmental protection (Split A) or environmental protection prior to economic growth (Split B), free competition is a guarantee of prosperity); attitude towards a reduction of the value of material possessions; approval of increased development of new technologies; impression of loss of personal purchasing power; expected change in the living conditions of future generations; suspected improvement of the lives of the young generation in the country by emigrating to another country; most important personal values; values ...

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.

Globalisation, personal values and priorities, European identity, future of the European Union, social problems and welfare, and European elections.

Topics: 1. Standard trends and attitudes towards the EU: general life satisfaction; assessment of the situation of the national and the European economy, and the world economy; assessment of the personal job situation, and the financial situation of the household; assessment of the situation on the labour market in the own country, and the situation of the environment; future expectations in the above fields; most important problems of the country and of the respondent; EU membership as a good thing; benefit from the country’s membership in the EU; development of the own country and of the EU in the right direction; trust in institutions (justice, political parties, national government, national parliament, European Union, and United Nations); positive or negative image of the EU; most important features of the EU for the respondent; more economic stability through the country’s membership in the EU and in the euro area; own voice counts in the European Union and in the own country (efficacy); understanding of the processes in the EU; voice of the own country counts in the EU; adequate consideration of national interests in EU decision-making; knowlegde of the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the European Central Bank; trust in these institutions; attitude towards a European Monetary Union; attitude towards the EU enlargement; assessment of the speed of building Europe as different in the European countries; preference for more or less decision-making at European level in the areas of: fighting unemployment, protecting social rights, ensuring economic growth, fighting organized crime and terrorism, food safety, environmental protection, health, equality between men and women, supporting agriculture, promoting democracy and world peace, cooperation in research and innovation, securing energy supply; assessment of the issue competence of the European Union in the areas mentioned above (10-step scale); preferred measures to strengthen the European Union (Split: setting different response categories). EU Presidency, only in EU 27: awareness of the current EU presidency by the Czech Republic; knowledge of the change of presidency to Sweden; only in the Czech Republic: significance of the current EU Presidency for the own country; only in Sweden: importance of the takeover of the Presidency for the own country.

1. The EU, the world, and globalisation: most important factors for the global influence of a country or of a group of countries; allocation of these factors to the EU; attitude towards globalisation (scale: opportunity for economic growth, increases social inequalities, demand for global governance); globalisation as an opportunity or a threat to national economy; EU protects its citizens from the negative effects of globalisation (Split A) or enables European citizens to better benefit from the positive effects of globalisation (Split B); assessment of the influence of the global economic situation on the national economy; comparison of the performance of the European economy with the American, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Russian, and Brazilian economy.

2. Global governance in the context of the economic crisis, role of the EU: major actors to combat the financial and economic crisis (national government, European Union, United States, G20, IMF (International Monetary Fund)); the EU has sufficient power to defend its economic interests; preferred measures of the EU to protect citizens from the effects of the financial and economic crisis.

3. Values and priorities: attitude towards a free enterprise economy (scale: state intervenes too much in the lives of the individuals, economic growth prior to environmental protection (Split A), or environmental protection prior to economic growth (Split B), free competition is a guarantee of prosperity); attitude towards a devaluation of the significance of material values; desire for increased development of new technologies; preferred orientation of the national society to meet global challenges; preferred speed for social change (in small steps, or in rapid radical action); financial priorities of the respondent (e.g., paying bills, saving for retirement, or for emergencies); salary, security, or professional interest as the main criteria for work.

4. Human rights: aspects of human rights that should be...

China invests 8.5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on infrastructure. This amount almost doubles the combined infrastructure investment of the European Union (2.6% GDP) and the United States (2.6% GDP). In fact, it far exceeds what any other country or region spends; China’s infrastructure spending is twice the level of India, and more than four times that of Latin America.In the United States, the largest share of infrastructure spending is towards roads, followed by transit and water. According to the Congressional Budget Office, between 2003 and 2007, public spending on transportation and water infrastructure declined by $23 billion, or 6 percent. That decline, which reflects a decrease in real capital spending, especially by the federal government, stands in contrast to the fairly steady increase in spending for such infrastructure during the previous two decades. In particular, real capital spending on highways, mass transit, and aviation fell markedly even as capital spending on other types of infrastructure - such as rail and water transportation, water resources, and water supply and wastewater treatment - remained stable or rose.

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 ** trillion U.S. dollars.

In the past four centuries, the population of the United States has grown from a recorded 350 people around the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1610, to an estimated 331 million people in 2020. The pre-colonization populations of the indigenous peoples of the Americas have proven difficult for historians to estimate, as their numbers decreased rapidly following the introduction of European diseases (namely smallpox, plague and influenza). Native Americans were also omitted from most censuses conducted before the twentieth century, therefore the actual population of what we now know as the United States would have been much higher than the official census data from before 1800, but it is unclear by how much. Population growth in the colonies throughout the eighteenth century has primarily been attributed to migration from the British Isles and the Transatlantic slave trade; however it is also difficult to assert the ethnic-makeup of the population in these years as accurate migration records were not kept until after the 1820s, at which point the importation of slaves had also been illegalized. Nineteenth century In the year 1800, it is estimated that the population across the present-day United States was around six million people, with the population in the 16 admitted states numbering at 5.3 million. Migration to the United States began to happen on a large scale in the mid-nineteenth century, with the first major waves coming from Ireland, Britain and Germany. In some aspects, this wave of mass migration balanced out the demographic impacts of the American Civil War, which was the deadliest war in U.S. history with approximately 620 thousand fatalities between 1861 and 1865. The civil war also resulted in the emancipation of around four million slaves across the south; many of whose ancestors would take part in the Great Northern Migration in the early 1900s, which saw around six million black Americans migrate away from the south in one of the largest demographic shifts in U.S. history. By the end of the nineteenth century, improvements in transport technology and increasing economic opportunities saw migration to the United States increase further, particularly from southern and Eastern Europe, and in the first decade of the 1900s the number of migrants to the U.S. exceeded one million people in some years. Twentieth and twenty-first century The U.S. population has grown steadily throughout the past 120 years, reaching one hundred million in the 1910s, two hundred million in the 1960s, and three hundred million in 2007. In the past century, the U.S. established itself as a global superpower, with the world's largest economy (by nominal GDP) and most powerful military. Involvement in foreign wars has resulted in over 620,000 further U.S. fatalities since the Civil War, and migration fell drastically during the World Wars and Great Depression; however the population continuously grew in these years as the total fertility rate remained above two births per woman, and life expectancy increased (except during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918).

Since the Second World War, Latin America has replaced Europe as the most common point of origin for migrants, with Hispanic populations growing rapidly across the south and border states. Because of this, the proportion of non-Hispanic whites, which has been the most dominant ethnicity in the U.S. since records began, has dropped more rapidly in recent decades. Ethnic minorities also have a much higher birth rate than non-Hispanic whites, further contributing to this decline, and the share of non-Hispanic whites is expected to fall below fifty percent of the U.S. population by the mid-2000s. In 2020, the United States has the third-largest population in the world (after China and India), and the population is expected to reach four hundred million in the 2050s.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2025, the United States housed the highest number of billionaires worldwide in 2025. In detail, there were *** billionaires living in the United States as of January that year. By comparison, *** billionaires resided in China. India, the United Kingdom, and Germany were also the homes of a significant number of billionaires that year. United States has regained its first place As the founder and exporter of consumer capitalism, it is no surprise that the United States is home to a large number of billionaires. Although China had briefly overtaken the U.S. in recent years, the United States has reclaimed its position as the country with the most billionaires in the world. Moreover, North America leads the way in terms of the highest number of ultra high net worth individuals – those with a net worth of more than ***** million U.S. dollars. The prominence of Europe and North America is a reflection of the higher degree of economic development in those states. However, this may also change as China and other emerging economies continue developing. Female billionaires Moreover, the small proportion of female billionaires does little to counter critics claiming the global economy is dominated by an elite comprised mainly of men. On the list of the 20 richest people in the world, only one was a woman. Moreover, recent political discourse has put a great amount of attention on the wealth held by the super-rich with the wealth distribution of the global population being heavily unequal.

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.

Among OECD member countries, the United States had the highest percentage of gross domestic product spent on health care as of 2023. The U.S. spent nearly ** percent of its GDP on health care services. Germany, France and Japan followed the U.S. with distinctly smaller percentages. The United States had both significantly higher private and public spending on health compared with other developed countries. Why compare OECD countries?OECD stands for Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. It is an economic organization consisting of ** members, mostly high-income countries and committed to democratic principles and market economy. This makes OECD statistics more comparable than statistics of developed and undeveloped countries. Health economics is an important matter for the OECD, even more since increasing health costs and an aging population have become an issue for many developed countries. Health costs in the U.S.  A higher GDP share spent on health care does not automatically lead to a better functioning health system. In the case of the U.S., high spending is mainly because of higher costs and prices, not due to higher utilization. For example, physicians’ salaries are much higher in the U.S. than in other comparable countries. A doctor in the U.S. earns almost twice as much as the average physician in Germany. Pharmaceutical spending per capita is also distinctly higher in the United States. Furthermore, the U.S. also spends more on health administrative costs compare to other wealthy countries.

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.

In 2024, China exported approximately 3.58 trillion U.S. dollars worth of goods. This indicated an increase in export value of about 5.9 percent compared to the previous year. Export of goods from ChinaChina’s exports have been growing steadily over the past decade, with the exception of 2009 when financial crisis and global economic downturn slowed down global trade and 2016 witnessing another decrease in global demand. Apart from being the most populous country, China has also become the largest manufacturing economy and the largest exporter in the world. ASEAN, European Union, and United States were China's leading export partners in 2023. Machinery such as computers, broadcasting technology, and telephones as well as transport equipment make up the largest part of Chinese exports. This category amounted to approximately 1.65 trillion U.S. dollars in export value in 2023. When it comes to primary goods, food and live animals used for food are the main export products.

Inflation is generally defined as the continued increase in the average prices of goods and services in a given region. Following the extremely high global inflation experienced in the 1980s and 1990s, global inflation has been relatively stable since the turn of the millennium, usually hovering between three and five percent per year. There was a sharp increase in 2008 due to the global financial crisis now known as the Great Recession, but inflation was fairly stable throughout the 2010s, before the current inflation crisis began in 2021. Recent years Despite the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the global inflation rate fell to 3.26 percent in the pandemic's first year, before rising to 4.66 percent in 2021. This increase came as the impact of supply chain delays began to take more of an effect on consumer prices, before the Russia-Ukraine war exacerbated this further. A series of compounding issues such as rising energy and food prices, fiscal instability in the wake of the pandemic, and consumer insecurity have created a new global recession, and global inflation in 2024 is estimated to have reached 5.76 percent. This is the highest annual increase in inflation since 1996. Venezuela Venezuela is the country with the highest individual inflation rate in the world, forecast at around 200 percent in 2022. While this is figure is over 100 times larger than the global average in most years, it actually marks a decrease in Venezuela's inflation rate, which had peaked at over 65,000 percent in 2018. Between 2016 and 2021, Venezuela experienced hyperinflation due to the government's excessive spending and printing of money in an attempt to curve its already-high inflation rate, and the wave of migrants that left the country resulted in one of the largest refugee crises in recent years. In addition to its economic problems, political instability and foreign sanctions pose further long-term problems for Venezuela. While hyperinflation may be coming to an end, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this will have on the economy, how living standards will change, and how many refugees may return in the coming years.

Of the major developed and emerging economies, China had the lowest inflation rate at *** percent in December 2024. On the other end of the spectrum, the inflation rate in Russia stood at nearly ** percent. The country's inflation rate increased sharply after the country's President, Vladimir Putin, decided to invade Ukraine, declined somewhat in 2023, before increasing slowly again since. The rate of inflation reflects changes in the cost of a specified basket containing a representative selection of goods and services. It is derived from the consumer price index (CPI).

In 2024, China's merchandise trade surplus amounted to around 992.2 billion U.S. dollars, significantly higher than in the previous year. The merchandise trade balance is the value of exported goods minus the value of imported goods. A positive value indicates a trade surplus, while a negative value indicates a trade deficit. Trade balance and partnersIn 2024, Chinese imports of goods amounted to approximately 2.59 trillion U.S. dollars, whereas total exports added up to about 3.58 trillion U.S. dollars. In contrast, China’s invisible trade balance, an indicator measuring services and government transfers between countries, closed with a deficit and ranged at about -92 billion U.S. dollars at the end of 2022. Being an economy heavily reliant on export, China ranked first among countries with the highest trade surplus, followed by Germany and Russia. The United States, with imports exceeding exports by approximately 1.15 trillion U.S. dollars that year, ranked first among leading import countries worldwide. In 2023, the value of the U.S. imports from China exceeded the exports to China by around 279.4 billion U.S. dollars. Another important trade partner for China is the European Union. In 2023, the EU imported around 514 billion euro-worth of goods from China, leading to a trade deficit of around 291 billion euros. Product categories with the highest trade deficit were mostly finished goods such as machinery and transport equipment, clothing, and other manufactures, whereas product categories with a more balanced trade sheet consisted of raw materials and agricultural products to a large extent.