Datastream

Mapped: The 25 Poorest Countries in the World

Published

3 months ago

April 22, 2021

Avery Koop

poorest countries by GDP per capita

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The Briefing

The poorest country in the world is Burundi with a GDP per capita of $264
Nearly all of the world’s poorest countries are in Africa, though Haiti, Tajikistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan are notable exceptions

Mapped: The 25 Poorest Countries in the World

Having looked at the richest countries in the world, which nations are at the bottom of the list in terms of GDP per capita, in nominal terms?

This map looks at the world’s 25 poorest countries by this metric.

Country	GDP per capita (USD)
🇧🇮 Burundi	$263.67
🇸🇸 South Sudan	$303.15
🇲🇼 Malawi	$399.10
🇲🇿 Mozambique	$455.01
🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)	$456.89
🇨🇫 Central African Republic	$480.50
🇦🇫 Afghanistan	$499.44
🇲🇬 Madagascar	$514.85
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	$518.47
🇳🇪 Niger	$535.83
🇪🇷 Eritrea	$585.16
🇹🇩 Chad	$639.85
🇾🇪 Yemen	$645.13
🇱🇷 Liberia	$653.60
🇹🇬 Togo	$690.28
🇭🇹 Haiti	$732.07
🇸🇩 Sudan	$734.60
🇬🇲 The Gambia	$746.33
🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau	$766.75
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	$768.83
🇷🇼 Rwanda	$823.40
🇹🇯 Tajikistan	$833.55
🇲🇱 Mali	$899.22
🇺🇬 Uganda	$915.35
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	$921.85

All but four of these countries are located on the African continent.

Additionally, all of the 25 poorest countries, with the exception of Zimbabwe and Tajikistan, are considered Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by the UN. LDCs are categorized by criteria based on per capita income, human assets (such as education level), and economic vulnerability. Today, more than 75% of the population in LDCs live below the poverty line.

For added perspective, the average GDP per capita of all developing economies and emerging markets globally is $5,172.

Emerging Markets

Developing countries, while having much smaller economies, have one thing that the richest countries don’t have: immense room for economic growth.

Most of the poorest countries’ strongest industries are agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and so on, and the world is heavily reliant on the flow of raw materials and resources coming from developing nations.

Focusing on the African countries listed, the economic potential is significant. Africa’s infrastructure is currently improving at a rapid rate, opening the door for foreign direct investment and increased capacity for industrialization. In large part, this progress is thanks to China’s Belt and Road initiative and investment in multiple African countries.

Another signal of Africa’s potential is the extremely large share of young people on the continent. Here’s a look at the five countries in the world with the highest shares of their population aged younger than 15, all of which are in Africa:

🇳🇪 Niger: 49.8%
🇲🇱 Mali: 47.3%
🇹🇩 Chad: 46.8%
🇦🇴 Angola: 46.6%
🇺🇬 Uganda: 46.5%

In Niger, an astounding near half of the population is under the age of 15 years old. This could translate into a large future workforce, a growing domestic market, and potential for innovation and economic progress.

Overall, while today the poorest countries still have extremely low standards of living, the economic potential is there for future growth.

Where does this data come from?

Source: IMF
Details: GDP per capita is measured in $USD, 2020.

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Datastream

Olympics 2021: Comparing Every Sports Ball

Here are the different sizes and weights of each Olympic sports ball used in the Tokyo Olympics.

Published

1 week ago

July 19, 2021

Omri Wallach

Olympics 2021 Comparing Every Sports Ball Preview

The Briefing

Table tennis has the smallest sports ball used in the Tokyo Olympics at just 4cm in diameter and 2.7g in weight.
The biggest by size is the basketball at 24.35cm in diameter, but the shot is more than 10 times heavier at 7.26kg.

Olympics 2021: Comparing Every Sports Ball

It might be strange having the Olympics in 2021 (an odd year), but 2020 was anything but normal.

After facing a 12-month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are set to kick off from July 23 to August 8.

In addition to hosting traditional sports like running and aquatics, some sports are being introduced for the first time (karate, skateboarding) or returning after an absence (baseball).

One thing that many Olympic sports share in common? There are 17 different sports that use balls or spheres of some sort, ranging in size and weight. Here are the different balls used in the Tokyo Olympics.

Olympic Sports Balls by Size and Weight

The 2021 Olympics, which are still officially called the 2020 Olympics to keep the four-year cycle and branding consistent, are hosting 339 events across 33 different sports.

17 of those sports use balls or spheres. The official sizes and weights vary from a small diameter of 4cm for table tennis to the largest ball, a basketball with a diameter of 24.35cm.

Sport	Diameter	Weight
Table Tennis	4.00cm	2.7g
Golf	4.27cm	45.93g
Tennis	6.70cm	57.7g
Field Hockey	7.48cm	163g
Baseball	7.50cm	149g
Softball	9.55cm	177g
Shot Put	12.00cm	7,260g
Handball (Women’s)	17.51cm	350g
Handball (Men’s)	18.78cm	450g
Rhythmic Gymnastics	19.00cm	400g
Volleyball	21.01cm	270g
Water Polo (Women’s)	21.01cm	425g
Beach Volleyball	21.33cm	270g
Soccer	21.96cm	432.5g
Water Polo (Men’s)	22.28cm	425g
Basketball (Women’s)	23.24cm	538g
Basketball (Men’s)	24.35cm	608g

Even within the same categories of sports, balls have different size and weight rules based on event or gender. Water polo, handball, and basketball all have slight variations of a few centimeters in diameter and up to 100g in weight for different gender events.

But sorting the balls by weight shows that the shot is far and away the heaviest. At 7.26kg, the shot is more than 10 times heavier than a basketball. That’s because while most sporting balls are made of light material filled with air, shots are typically constructed entirely of metal.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Wired, Official Sport Rulebooks.

Datastream

Top 50 Companies Proportion of World GDP

The world’s top 50 companies are becoming more valuable, especially compared to global GDP.

Published

1 week ago

July 19, 2021

Omri Wallach

The Briefing

The combined market cap of the world’s top 50 companies was proportional to 27.6% of global GDP in 2020, up from just 4.7% of global GDP in 1990
Tech’s role continues to grow, now accounting for 21 of the top 50 companies

Top 50 Companies Proportion of World GDP

The world’s top 50 companies have become increasingly more valuable, and more powerful, over time.

As global GDP has grown over the last four decades, from $23.6 trillion in 1990 to $84.5 trillion in 2020, the proportional share of the world’s top companies by market capitalization has grown over five-fold.

Year	Global GDP	Top 50 Companies Market Cap as a % of GDP
1990	$23.6T	4.7%
2000	$34.0T	22.1%
2010	$66.2T	12.7%
2020	$84.5T	27.6%

Though the world’s top 50 companies change year-to-year, there’s also a lot of overlap.

Which Companies Dominated Each Decade?

2020’s largest company by market cap, Apple at $2.26 trillion, was the third largest company in 2010. Likewise, 2010’s largest company was Exxon Mobil, which was the second largest company in both 1990 and 2000 (but has since fallen off).

The top 50 companies in the world also highlight the increasing role of tech in the modern market. 1990’s largest company IBM was just one of three tech companies that made the ranking that year. Even in 2000, when the world’s largest company was GE, tech companies like Cisco and Microsoft only made up three of the top 10 companies by market cap.

Fast forward to 2020, and tech accounted for 42% of the top 50 companies in the world. It also plays a more prominent role on the high end of the spectrum, as six of 2020’s seven largest companies were tech-based, with only oil giant Saudi Aramco the odd one out.

Though digitization is a primary driver of current economic growth, will these trends remain steady in 10 or more years from now? Or will companies from other booming industries such as green energy take over the leaderboard?

>>Like this? You might find this article interesting, 23 Years of Shifting Tech Market Caps

Where does this data come from?

Source: Bloomberg, IMF.