Thursday, April 20, 2006

China Watch 1: World's Largest Economies, Population, 2005

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released today the full text of its World Economic Outlook (WEO), April 2006 issue (www.imf.org). I immediately checked the database, created my own table and arranged countries based on size of their economies represented by their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To adjust for cost of living in each country, economists use the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) valuation. I have a ranking of more than 180 countries, will show here only the top 25.

Its interesting to note that out of the 25 largest economies in the world in 2005, 9 are Asians (including Iran); and more interesting is that 3 Asian countries (China, Japan and India) are in the top 4 and have economies much larger than any of the European countries.

I also checked the ranking of countries in 1980, to see how countries fared 25 years ago, when the pace of globalization was slower (next table after the 2005 ranking). Back then, China and India ranked #s 8 and 9.

Over the last 25 years, China's GDP has increased by 21x, Korea's GDP has increased by 10.8x, Taiwan's by 9.4x, Thailand's by 8.6x, India's by 8.4x.

In contrast, over the last 25 years, the US's GDP has increased by 4.5x, Canada's by 4.2x, Mexico's by 3.8x, Brazil's by 3.5x. For the European countries, Spain's by 4.2x, UK's by 3.8x, France's by 3.4x, Germany's by 3.3x, Italy's by 3.1x.

Indeed, faster globalization has benefitted the Asians more than the North and South Americans, and the Europeans. No wonder anti-globalization sentiment is much stronger among Europeans and Americans than Asians.

Below are the 2 tables for 2005 and 1980 figures.

GDP based on PPP valuation of country GDP, US$ Billion, 2005

1. United States 12,277.6
2. China 9,412.4
3. Japan 3,910.7
4. India 3,633.4
5. Germany 2,521.7
6. United Kingdom 1,832.8
7. France 1,830.1
8. Italy 1,668.2
9. Brazil 1,576.7
10. Russia 1,575.6
11. Canada 1,104.7
12. Spain 1,089.1
13. Mexico 1,072.6
14. Korea 994.4
15. Indonesia 977.4
16. Taiwan 631.2
17. Australia 630.1
18. South Africa 570.2
19. Turkey 569.2
20. Iran 554.8
21. Thailand 544.8
22. Argentina 533.7
23. Netherlands 503.4
24. Poland 495.9
25. Philippines 414.7

GDP based on PPP valuation of country GDP, US$ Billion, 1980

1. United States 2,750.4
2. Japan 1,053.0
3. Germany 768.3
4. France 540.0
5. Italy 535.5
6. United Kingdom 475.7
7. Brazil 447.1
8. China 445.1
9. India 431.1
10. Mexico 278.5
11. Canada 267.6
12. Spain 257.5
13. Argentina 176.8
14. South Africa 167.3
15. Indonesia 148.5
16. Poland 147.3
17. Netherlands 141.0
18. Australia 131.7
19. Saudi Arabia 106.2
20. Philippines 103.4
21. Iran 98.8
22. Belgium 96.8
23. Turkey 96.6
24. Korea 92.4
25. Switzerland 80.3


World's Most Populous Countries, 2005

In the world's largest economies by GDP, PPP valuation, 9 of top 25 are Asians.
Of the world's 25 most populous countries, nearly half or 11 are Asians. The top 2 are occupied of course, by China and India, the only billion-plus population countries.

Mid-2005 Population estimates:

1. China 1,306.3
2. India 1,080.3
3. US 295.7
4. Indonesia 242.0
5. Brazil 186.1
6. Pakistan 162.4
7. Bangladesh 144.3
8. Russia 143.4
9. Nigeria 128.8
10. Japan 127.4
11. Mexico 106.2
12. Philippines 87.9
13. Vietnam 83.5
14. Germany 82.4
15. Egypt 77.5
16. Ethiopia 73.1
17. Turkey 69.7
18. Iran 68.0
19. Thailand 65.4
20. France 60.7
21. UK 60.4
22. Congo Dem. Rep. 60.1
23. Italy 58.1
24. S. Korea 48.4
25. Ukraine 47.4

(source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004379.html)

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