Richest Economy in World

January 28th, 2010 | economics -

Using statistics from 2008 (it is difficult to find more upto date figures), the richest economy in the world is the United States.

The US is top of the lists for GDP Nominal and GDP measured by PPP.

Using PPP measure of GDP the top 10 countries are:

1 United States – $14,264,600
2 People’s Republic of China – $7,916,4291
3 Japan – $4,354,368

4 India – $3,288,345
5 Germany – $2,910,490
6 Russia – $2,260,907
7 United Kingdom – $2,230,549
8 France – $2,130,383
9 Brazil – $1,981,207
10 Italy – $ 1,814,557

(Yesterday, the UK economy grew by a paltry 0.1% after 6 quarters of falling growth, so it is likely to be slipping down the table at that rate)

Source: IMF

GDP measured by Purchasing Power Parity takes into account local costs of living and the fact exchange rates may not reflect different living costs. For example, the Chinese economy is undervalued for various reasons.

When will China Overtake US as World’s Largest Economy?

I have seen a few news reports to suggest China will soon overtake US as the world’s largest economy. It depends on which models of growth you use. Using PPP measure of GDP, the Economist predict China will overtake the US in 2017 (link – subscribers of Economist only)

Top 10 GDP per Capita

Top 10 Largest nominal GDP

GDP PPP top 10

Interactive graph of GDP