The United States’ economy is the largest in the world as measured by nominal GDP. The biggest contributor to that GDP is the economy’s service sector, which includes finance, real estate, insurance, professional and business services, and healthcare. Find out more about macroeconomic indicators​ and how these measures are important for measuring growth, inflation rates and exchange rates of local currencies. In this article, we will unravel the world’s top economies in terms of GDP and PPP value, as well as the world’s richest countries measured by GDP per capita. Some of these may surprise you, so continue reading to discover which are at the top of the list.

More than 150 countries have received Chinese money and technology to build roads, airports, seaports and bridges. According to Mr Rajah, Chinese commitment to these projects may start to suffer if economic problems persist at home. Over the last 10 years, China is estimated to have invested more than a trillion dollars in huge infrastructure projects known cruise line stocks as the Belt and Road Initiative. “Big exporters such as Australia, Brazil and several countries in Africa will be hit hardest by this,” says Roland Rajah, director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. However, according to some economists, the idea that China is the engine of global prosperity has been exaggerated.

• Russia has moved toward a more market-based economy over the 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but government ownership of and intervention in business is still common.
• In terms of investing returns, countries that are more stable and advanced in technology, and that grow faster than the other countries generate higher returns for their stock market investors.
• The second table includes data, mostly for the year 2022, for 180 of the 193 current United Nations member states as well as Hong Kong and Macau (the two Chinese Special Administrative Regions).

Saudi Arabia is the 17th largest economy in the world with a GDP of over $1 trillion. The kingdom is a permanent and founding member of OPEC, and one of the biggest oil exports globally. Saudi Arabia’s share of oil exports in total exports increased from 71% in 2021 to 79% in 2022. The Saudis are leveraging their economic power to modernize their military as well. The country was the fifth biggest defense spender in 2022 having spent a whopping $75 billion on military expenditure that year.

World economy

Australia combines a relatively open domestic economy with an extensive network of free trade agreements with trading partners all around the Asia-Pacific Rim. Italy’s economy and level of development vary notably by region, with a more developed, industrial economy in the north and underdeveloped southern regions. Gross domestic product (GDP) is an estimate of the total value of finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders during a specified period, usually a year.

• When it comes to a country’s living standard, GDP, PPP is regarded as the better metric because it reflects purchasing power better.
• Czech Republic made the list of the largest economies in the world in 2023 due to the size of its GDP, which was measured at $290 billion in 2022.
• Australia is by far the largest producer of lithium, a non-renewable mineral that is vital for the development of clean energy, such as lithium-ion batteries.
• Philippines is on track to become an upper middle-income economy, according to the country director for Asian Development Bank (ADB).
• Positive values on this chart indicate that a country is growing above potential; negative values indicate it is growing below potential.

For this reason, the country attracts a lot of shipping businesses catering to Nordic countries. Colombia’s economy grew at 7.3% in 2022 but has overheated due to activity beyond its potential, said the World Bank. However, growth is expected to increase to 2% in 2024 and 3.2% in 2025. The economy is expected to grow slightly in 2023, driven by exports, especially lithium and copper. Inflation has been projected by the World Bank to remain high in the short term.

Many who see China as the world’s leading economic power also see it as a good thing

Sweden is a Scandinavian country with a GDP of $586 billion in 2022, ranking 24th on our list based on economic data released by the IMF. However, the country is going through recession and the economic outlook for 2023 was described by the Swedish government as ‘gloomy’ in as early as October last year. According to reports, the economy is set to contract by 1% instead of the projected 0.7% figure. Scheduled power cuts that started in 2007 have constrained South Africa’s economic growth.

Russell 2000 Futures

Data are in millions of international dollars; they were compiled by the World Bank. The third table is a tabulation of the CIA World Factbook GDP (PPP) data update of 2019. The data for GDP at purchasing power parity has also been rebased using the new International Comparison Program price surveys and extrapolated to 2007. Non-sovereign entities (the world, continents, and some dependent territories) and states what is herding with limited recognition (such as Kosovo, Palestine and Taiwan) are included in the list in cases in which they appear in the sources. These economies are not ranked in the charts here, but are listed in sequence by GDP for comparison. Poland’s business-friendly climate and sound macroeconomic policies allowed it to be the only EU country to avoid recession in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Ireland had the fastest growing economy in Europe in 2022 with a GDP growth of 12.2%, driven by higher private consumption, investments by multinationals, and continued growth in exports. Strong domestic demand is likely to help Austria recover from its current economic downturn. According to the OECD, Austria’s GDP growth is expected to be 0.2% in 2023, and then 1.6% in 2024. Economic forecasts suggest real wages to rise and inflation to ease in the ongoing fiscal year. Czech Republic made the list of the largest economies in the world in 2023 due to the size of its GDP, which was measured at $290 billion in 2022.

World Economies Projected to Be the Largest By 2050

It’s economy has seen historical growth in the last two decades, causing some economists to speculate that China may overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy in the future. Overall, countries continued that growth in 2022, which saw global GDP go from $96.88 trillion in 2021 to $100.56 trillion in 2022. The world’s second-largest economy, home to more than 1.4 billion people, is facing a host of problems – including slow growth, high youth unemployment and a property market in disarray. Gross domestic product (GDP) is the broadest overall indicator of economic activity and growth.

Pakistan is the fifth most populous nation in the world, with its youth bulge being the driving force of the economy. However, security and political turmoil in the last decade has pegged the country back from reaching its full potential. In 2023, Pakistan risks facing default with its foreign exchange reserves critically low and revenues shrinking. One of the main reasons for this was the country’s 12% increase in oil output, as noted by IMF, and high oil prices around the world, which provided much needed respite to the Iraqi economy. Saudi Arabia has one of the largest economies in the Middle East with a 2021 GDP of $833.54 billion. While the country has benefited from the increase in oil prices from 2021, Saudi Arabia has begun to diversify the economy from hydrocarbons given its Vision 2030 initiative.

EUR/USD

This suggests that although some nations have a very high level of GDP and PPP, this may not be evenly distributed across the population and it doesn’t automatically enhance the residents’ quality of life. Although ‘largest economy’ and ‘richest country’ may sound like synonyms, they are quite different in terms of the way they are measured. China is the second-largest economy considering nominal GDP, at $19.37 trillion. Japan has the third-largest economy in the world with a GDP of $4.41 trillion. The German economy is the fourth-largest in the world with a GDP of $4.31 trillion. India’s economy is the fifth-largest in the world with a GDP of $3.74 trillion.

World Bank has projected the Nigerian economy to grow by an average of 2.9% between 2023 and 2025. Spain has one of the largest economies in Europe given its 2021 GDP of $1.43 trillion. Despite the headwinds internationally, Spain’s economy is expanding fairly rapidly relative to other developed nations. Spain’s government expects its GDP to grow 4.4% in 2022 before slowing to 2.1% in 2023.

Taiwan, located at the junction of the East and South China Seas, had a GDP of $762 billion in 2022. Taiwan’s economic growth has remained consistently high for several decades now and is referred to as one of the four ‘Asian Tigers’ alongside Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong. After easing travel restrictions how to buy bonfire in May 2022, Thailand has seen a surge in international tourism arrivals. This has resulted in rebounding the country’s economy and helped it recover from effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Thai economy has grown by 2.7% in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 1.4% in the final quarter of 2022.