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 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in European Union was worth 19423.32 billion US dollars in 2024, according to official data from the World Bank. The GDP value of European Union represents 18.29 percent of the world economy. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - European Union GDP - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

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.

The BRICS countries overtook the G7 countries share of the world's total gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2018. By 2024, the difference had increased even further, the BRICS now holding a total 35 percent of the world's GDP compared to 30 percent held by the G7 countries.

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.

These are research indicators of comparative empirical investigation of South Eastern European Countries (SEECs) and People’s Republic of China (PRC) that were compiled from the criteria and factors of the World Bank. This dataset consists of data for SEECs and PRC for the period of 2000 to 2016. The World Bank Research Indicators consist of (1) GNI, Atlas Method (Current US$); (2) GNI per capita, Atlas; (3) GNI PPP (Current International $); (4) GNI per capita, PPP (Current International $); (5) Energy Use (kg of Oil Equivalent per capita); (6) Electric Power Consumption (kWh per capita); (7) GDP (Current US$); (8) GDP Growth (Annual %); (9) Inflation, GDP Deflator (Annual %); (10) Agriculture, Value Added (% of GDP); (11) Industry, Value Added (% of GDP); (12) Service, etc., Value Added (% of GDP); (13) Exports of Goods and Services (% of GDP); (14) Imports of Goods and Services (% of GDP); (15) Gross Capital Formation (% of GDP); (16) Revenue, excluding Grants (% of GDP); (17) Time Required to Start a Business (Days); (18) Domestic Credit Provided by Financial Sector (% of GDP); (19) Tax Revenue (% of GDP); (20) High-Technology Exports (% of Manufactured Exports); (21) Merchandise Trade (% of GDP); (22) Net Barter Terms of Trade Index (2000 = 100); (23) External Debt Stock, Total (DOD, Current US$); (24) Total Debt Service (% of Exports of Goods, Services and Primary Income); (25) Personal Remittances, Received (Current US$); (26) Foreign Direct Investment, Net Flows (BoP, Current US$); and (27) Net Official Development Assistance and Official Aid Received (Current US$). Furthermore, statistical data of SEECs and PRC were retrieved from Atlas 2.1 – Growth Lab at the Center for International Development at Harvard University and WITS – UNSD COMPTRADE.

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.

This thesis explores the devastating economic consequences that a hypothetical World War III could have on the global economy. Unlike the previous world wars, this conflict would unfold in a highly globalized, digitally interconnected world—meaning the economic damage would be even more widespread and severe.Drawing from history, the paper analyzes past wars like World War I and II, highlighting how those events caused GDP contractions, hyperinflation, destruction of infrastructure, and long-term debt. It uses these precedents to build realistic scenarios for what could happen if WWIII breaks out today. The study models short-term disruptions like stock market crashes, currency collapse, and trade blockades; medium-term issues like mass unemployment and inflation; and long-term impacts such as technological regression and widespread economic stagnation.The thesis provides regional assessments as well—evaluating how countries like the U.S., China, and nations in Europe and the Global South would fare in different war scenarios, from limited conflicts to full-scale nuclear exchanges. It also discusses secondary effects like energy and food shortages, famine, and the collapse of consumer demand in non-essential sectors.Importantly, the paper doesn’t stop at doom and gloom. It outlines strategic policy responses such as emergency fiscal controls, global debt restructuring, a possible new Bretton Woods system, and a modern-day Marshall Plan to help rebuild economies post-war.In conclusion, the research emphasizes that preventing World War III is not just a matter of global peace, but an absolute economic necessity. Even the strongest economies could collapse, and recovery could take decades—if at all. The thesis serves as both a warning and a call for proactive international diplomacy, economic safeguards, and collective accountability.

International trade is an increasingly important component of the European economy. Since its early foundations were laid by the European Coal & Steel Community (ECSC) founded in 1951, trade between European member states has been at the core of the European project. International trade, that is, trade which the European Union does externally with countries who are not member states, has become a greater focus of the bloc in recent years, as the EU attempts to increase the global reach of its companies, while reaping the benefits of cheaper imports. The EU has put particular importance on reaching trade agreements with partners outside the union, as this removes trade barriers such as tariffs, quotas, as well as non-tariff barriers (such as regulations, licenses, and sanctions) which hamper trade activity. EU Trade Deals Recent trade agreements include the Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement with Canada (while not ratified by the member states' parliaments, it had been effectively in force since 2017) and the Japan-EU Economic partnership agreement, in force since 2019. The most significant regions which the EU has not concluded free trade agreements with are the United States, Russia, and China. The Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the U.S. and EU broke down at the negotiation stage, with powerful economic & political actors on the European side, such as trade unions, opposing the deal from the beginning, while the election of Donald Trump as President of the U.S. effectively ended any hopes of the deal being completed due to his "America First" trade policies. With the increasing geopolitical and economic competition between the U.S. and China, the EU now finds itself caught between the two superpowers, and is unlikely to be able to conclude a trade agreement with either without antagonizing the other country. EU trade with Russia, on the other hand, has broken down in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the subsequent sanctions imposed by the European member states.

In 2024, China’s level of total investment reached around 40.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This value is expected to remain stable in 2025 and increase slightly in the following years. Final consumption accounted for 55.7 percent in 2023. International comparison of total investments The GDP of a country can be calculated by the expenditure approach, which sums up final consumption (private and public), total investment, and net exports. The ratio of consumption to investment may vary greatly between different countries.Matured economies normally consume a larger share of their economic output. In the U.S. and many European countries, total investment ranges roughly at only 20 to 25 percent of the GDP. In comparison, some emerging economies reached levels of 30 to 40 percent of investment during times of rapid economic development. Level of total investment in China China is among the countries that spend the highest share of their GDP on investments. Between 1980 and 2000, 30 to 40 percent of its economic output were invested, roughly on par with South Korea or Japan. While the latter’s investment spending ratio decreased in later years, China’s even grew, especially after the global financial crisis, peaking at staggering 47 percent of GDP in 2011.However, returns on those investments declined year by year, indicated by lower GDP growth rates. This resulted in a quickly growing debt burden, which reached nearly 285 percent of the GDP in 2023, up from only 135 percent in 2008. The Chinese government defined the goal to shift to consumption driven growth, but the transformation takes longer than expected.

The United States has, by far, the largest gross domestic product (GDP) of the G7 countries. Moreover, while the GDP of the other six countries fluctuated between 2000 and 2024, the U.S.' grew almost constantly, reaching an estimated 29.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024. The United States is also the world's largest economy ahead of China. Germany had the second largest economy of the G7 countries at around 4.7 trillion U.S. dollars.

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.

China's share of imports in gross domestic product (GDP) was about 13.6 percent in 2024. The total gross domestic product amounted to approximately 135 trillion yuan that year. Import development in China Trade is essential to modern economies. The imports-to-GDP ratio measures a country’s openness to inward trade. One similar indicator is the trade-to-GDP-ratio, which is the sum of exports and imports divided by GDP. It is used to measure a country’s integration in the world economy. As of 2023, China was the second largest merchandise importing nation worldwide, only next to the United States. China’s imports of goods had nearly doubled over the last decade. In 2010, the import value stood at around 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars, whereas in 2024, China brought forth approximately 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars worth of imported commodities, its main import goods being integrated circuits, crude oil, and iron ore. Meanwhile, the monetary value of services imported to China, although much lower than merchandise imports, also increased steadily. Where does China import from? In 2024, ASEAN was the leading import partner for China, with imports amounting to approximately 2.81 trillion yuan. The European Union was the second largest import source providing nearly two trillion yuan worth of goods to China. In 2023, the European Union imported around 514 billion euros worth of merchandise from China, resulting in a trade deficit of roughly 291 billion euros. Trade deficits were most significant in sectors such as machinery, transport equipment and apparel manufacturing.

The United States' travel and tourism industry directly contributed the largest amount to gross domestic profit (GDP) out of any country worldwide with a total contribution of 580.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. Comparatively, the ever-growing travel and tourism industry in China directly contributed the second largest sum to GDP. Meanwhile, Europe was home to half of the top 10 countries with the highest direct contribution to GDP globally (through travel and tourism).

What is GDP?

GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. It is considered an important indicator of the economic strength of a country and a positive change is an indicator of economic growth.

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.

In 2020, global gross domestic product declined by 6.7 percent as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak. In Latin America, overall GDP loss amounted to 8.5 percent.

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.  

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.

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.

Currently, China manufactures about 20 percent of intermediate products traded in the global supply chain and Chinese products represent a critical part of the global value chain of the electrical machinery sector. For this reason, the disruption caused by COVID-19 in China alone is expected to reverberate on the economy of many other countries worldwide. In the European Union, the electrical machinery industry is expected to lose about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars from a two percent reduction in China exports of intermediate inputs. The European chemical and automotive sector are also expected to suffer similar impacts.

China's role in the global economy Since the beginning of the 1990s, China started to open up its markets with attractive incentives to foreign investors. Three decades later, the country has become the second-largest economy in the world with the highest absolute catch-up effect observed during this time span. For instance, between 2003 and 2019, China's semiconductor consumption market share increased at a high pace, reaching 60 percent in 2019. Besides, the export value of machine tools from China reached roughly four billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up from 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2009. With solid economic strategies, the country could quickly reduce the wealth gap with the developed countries. At the moment, the country is highly specialized in various industries and continues its progress to strengthen its international export position. China’s exports of high-tech goods represented 27 percent of its total exports in 2018.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Chinese economy For the first time since the 2000s, the Chinese real gross domestic product (GDP) experienced a negative growth rate in the first quarter of 2020 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak. The economy is expected to grow only by one percent in 2020. Yet over the past few years, the average annual real GDP growth rate in China was around seven percent. To take a closer look at how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the Chinese economy, a multidimensional approach is necessary since the country has a vastly diversified economic activity. For instance, between January and February 2020, the total industrial production in China declined by 13.5 percent compared to the previous year. But Chinese industrial production started to recover quickly. By April 2020, the total industrial production in China reached a positive year-on-year change, roughly 3.9 percent. Although the country experienced a large economic shock caused by the coronavirus outbreak, it started to recover quickly thanks to strong economic policy responses. By the fourth quarter of 2020, the Chinese business and government purchases of technology goods and services are expected to grow by about seven percent.