Markets
Animation: Wealth vs. Population for USA, China, and India (1970 – 2030)
China already consumes mind-boggling amounts of raw materials, contributes 30.3% of global growth, and has a new spending class of 415 million millennials that is starting to demand middle class comforts.
But, if you’re still skeptical of this new economic paradigm, today’s animation shows it all in the simplest terms possible.
With one axis, each country’s percentage share of the world population is shown. Meanwhile, the other axis shows GDP per capita, roughly equivalent to the income of each citizen in that country. Multiplied by one another, or the area of the colored rectangles below, is the relative size of a country’s GDP over time.
This particular animation shows years from 1970 and include projections out until 2030:
Today, the United States, China, and India make up around 38% of global GDP.
However, by 2030 it is estimated that this group will make up closer to 43% of the total. The United States’ percentage will decline from 22% to 20% of the global share. China will continue its ascent, even if at a slower pace, to make up a greater amount. India will also be the 3rd largest global economy by 2030.
Original graphic by: @AronStrandberg
Markets
Ranked: The World’s 50 Top Countries by GDP, by Sector Breakdown
This graphic shows GDP by country, broken down into three main sectors: services, industry, and agriculture.

Visualized: The Three Pillars of GDP, by Country
Over the last several decades, the service sector has fueled the economic activity of the world’s largest countries. Driving this trend has been changes in consumption, the easing of trade barriers, and rapid advancements in tech.
We can see this in the gross domestic product (GDP) breakdown of each country, which gets divided into three broad sectors: services, industry, and agriculture.
The above graphic from Pranav Gavali shows GDP by country, and how each sector contributes to an economy’s output, with data from the World Bank.
Drivers of GDP, by Country
As the most important and fastest growing component of GDP, services make up almost 60% of GDP in the world’s 50 largest countries. Following this is the industrial sector which includes the production of raw goods.
Below, we show how each sector contributes to GDP by country as of 2021:
Country | Services (% GDP) | Industry (% GDP) | Agriculture (% GDP) | Other (% GDP) | GDP (T) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
🇺🇸 U.S. | 77.6 | 17.9 | 1.0 | 3.6 | $22.9 |
🇨🇳 China | 53.5 | 39.3 | 7.2 | 0.0 | $16.9 |
🇯🇵 Japan | 69.9 | 28.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | $5.1 |
🇩🇪 Germany | 62.9 | 26.7 | 0.9 | 9.5 | $4.2 |
🇬🇧 UK | 71.6 | 17.3 | 0.7 | 10.4 | $3.1 |
🇫🇷 France | 70.3 | 16.7 | 1.6 | 11.4 | $2.9 |
🇮🇳 India | 47.9 | 26.1 | 17.3 | 8.7 | $2.9 |
🇮🇹 Italy | 65.0 | 22.7 | 1.9 | 10.4 | $2.1 |
🇨🇦 Canada* | 67.7 | 24.1 | 1.7 | 6.6 | $2.0 |
🇰🇷 South Korea | 57.0 | 32.4 | 1.8 | 8.8 | $1.8 |
🇧🇷 Brazil | 57.8 | 20.2 | 7.5 | 14.6 | $1.6 |
🇦🇺 Australia | 65.7 | 25.5 | 2.3 | 6.5 | $1.6 |
🇷🇺 Russia | 54.1 | 31.8 | 3.9 | 10.3 | $1.6 |
🇪🇸 Spain | 67.4 | 20.4 | 2.6 | 9.6 | $1.4 |
🇲🇽 Mexico | 59.2 | 30.8 | 3.9 | 6.1 | $1.3 |
🇮🇩 Indonesia | 42.8 | 39.8 | 13.3 | 4.1 | $1.2 |
🇮🇷 Iran | 47.3 | 38.0 | 12.4 | 2.3 | $1.1 |
🇳🇱 Netherlands | 69.4 | 17.9 | 1.5 | 11.2 | $1.0 |
🇨🇭 Switzerland | 71.9 | 24.6 | 0.6 | 2.8 | $0.8 |
🇹🇷 Turkiye | 52.8 | 31.1 | 5.5 | 10.6 | $0.8 |
🇹🇼 Taiwan | 60.6 | 38.0 | 1.5 | 0.0 | $0.8 |
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 46.5 | 44.7 | 2.7 | 6.1 | $0.8 |
🇵🇱 Poland | 56.9 | 27.9 | 2.2 | 13.0 | $0.7 |
🇧🇪 Belgium | 68.8 | 19.6 | 0.7 | 10.9 | $0.6 |
🇸🇪 Sweden | 65.0 | 22.5 | 1.3 | 11.3 | $0.6 |
🇮🇱 Israel | 72.4 | 17.2 | 1.3 | 9.1 | $0.5 |
🇦🇷 Argentina | 52.5 | 23.6 | 7.1 | 16.8 | $0.5 |
🇦🇹 Austria | 62.4 | 25.8 | 1.2 | 10.5 | $0.5 |
🇳🇬 Nigeria | 43.8 | 31.4 | 23.4 | 1.4 | $0.5 |
🇹🇭 Thailand | 56.3 | 35.0 | 8.7 | 0.0 | $0.5 |
🇮🇪 Ireland | 55.4 | 37.8 | 1.0 | 5.8 | $0.5 |
🇭🇰 Hong Kong | 89.7 | 6.0 | 0.1 | 4.3 | $0.4 |
🇩🇰 Denmark | 66.7 | 19.3 | 0.9 | 13.1 | $0.4 |
🇸🇬 Singapore | 70.3 | 24.4 | 0.0 | 5.3 | $0.4 |
🇿🇦 South Africa | 63.0 | 24.5 | 2.5 | 10.0 | $0.4 |
🇵🇭 Philippines | 61.0 | 28.9 | 10.1 | 0.0 | $0.4 |
🇪🇬 Egypt | 52.5 | 31.2 | 11.4 | 4.9 | $0.4 |
🇧🇩 Bangladesh | 51.3 | 33.3 | 11.6 | 3.7 | $0.4 |
🇳🇴 Norway | 51.8 | 36.3 | 1.7 | 10.2 | $0.4 |
🇻🇳 Vietnam | 41.2 | 37.5 | 12.6 | 8.8 | $0.4 |
🇲🇾 Malaysia | 51.6 | 37.8 | 9.6 | 1.1 | $0.4 |
🇦🇪 U.A.E. | 51.6 | 47.5 | 0.9 | 0.0 | $0.4 |
🇵🇰 Pakistan | 52.1 | 18.8 | 22.7 | 6.4 | $0.3 |
🇵🇹 Portugal | 64.7 | 19.6 | 2.2 | 13.5 | $0.3 |
🇫🇮 Finland | 60.3 | 24.1 | 2.3 | 13.4 | $0.3 |
🇨🇴 Colombia | 58.0 | 24.9 | 7.6 | 9.5 | $0.3 |
🇷🇴 Romania | 59.1 | 26.7 | 4.5 | 9.6 | $0.3 |
🇨🇿 Czechia | 58.8 | 30.3 | 1.8 | 9.1 | $0.3 |
🇨🇱 Chile | 54.4 | 31.3 | 3.6 | 10.6 | $0.3 |
🇳🇿 New Zealand* | 65.6 | 20.4 | 5.7 | 8.4 | $0.2 |
Industrial sector includes construction. Agriculture sector includes forestry and fishing. *Data as of 2019.
In the U.S., services make up nearly 78% of GDP. Apart from Hong Kong, it comprises the highest share of GDP across the world’s largest economies. Roughly 80% of American jobs in the private sector are in services, spanning from healthcare and entertainment to finance and logistics.
Like America, a growing share of China’s GDP is from services, contributing to almost 54% of total economic output, up from 44% in 2010. This can be attributed to rising incomes and higher productivity in the sector as the economy has grown and matured, among other factors.
In a departure from the top 10 biggest countries globally, agriculture continues to drive a large portion of India’s GDP. India is the world’s second largest producer of wheat and rice, with agriculture accounting for 44% of the country’s employment.
While the services sector has grown in India, it makes up a greater share in other emerging economies such as Brazil (58%), Mexico (59%), and the Philippines (61%).
Growth Dynamics
Services-led growth has risen faster than manufacturing across many developing nations, underpinned by productivity growth.
This structural shift is seen across economies. In many countries in Africa, for instance, jobs have increasingly moved from agriculture to services and trade, where it now accounts for 42% of jobs.
These growth patterns are supported by rising incomes in developing economies, while innovation in tech is lowering barriers to enabling service growth. As the industrial sector makes up a lower share of trade and economic activity, the service sector is projected to make up 77% of global GDP by 2035.
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