Misc
The Top 100 Companies of the World: The U.S. vs Everyone Else
The Top 100 Companies of the World: U.S. vs Everyone
When it comes to breaking down the top 100 companies of the world, the United States still commands the largest slice of the pie.
Throughout the 20th century and before globalization reached its current peaks, American companies made the country an economic powerhouse and the source of a majority of global market value.
But even as countries like China have made headway with multi-billion dollar companies of their own, and the marketโs most important sectors have shifted, the U.S. has managed to stay on top.
How do the top 100 companies of the world stack up? This visualization pulls from PwC’s annual ranking of the world’s largest companies, using market capitalization data from May 2021.
Where are the Worldโs Largest Companies Located?
The worldโs top 100 companies account for a massive $31.7 trillion in market cap, but that wealth is not distributed evenly.
Between companies, thereโs a wide range of market caps. For example, the difference between the worldโs largest company (Apple) and the 100th largest (Anheuser-Busch) is $1.9 trillion.
And between countries, that divide becomes even more stark. Of the 16 countries with companies making the top 100 ranking, the U.S. accounts for 65% of the total market cap value.
Location | # of Companies | Market Capitalization (May 2021) |
---|---|---|
๐บ๐ธ United States | 59 | $20.55T |
๐จ๐ณ China | 14 | $4.19T |
๐ธ๐ฆ Saudi Arabia | 1 | $1.92T |
๐จ๐ญ Switzerland | 3 | $0.82T |
๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands | 3 | $0.58T |
๐ฏ๐ต Japan | 3 | $0.56T |
๐ซ๐ท France | 2 | $0.55T |
๐ฉ๐ช Germany | 3 | $0.46T |
๐ฐ๐ท South Korea | 1 | $0.43T |
๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | 3 | $0.43T |
๐ฎ๐ณ India | 2 | $0.34T |
๐ฎ๐ช Ireland | 2 | $0.34T |
๐ฆ๐บ Australia | 1 | $0.16T |
๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark | 1 | $0.16T |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | 1 | $0.13T |
๐ง๐ช Belgium | 1 | $0.13T |
Compared to the U.S., other once-prominent markets like Japan, France, and the UK have seen their share of the worldโs top 100 companies falter over the years. In fact, all of Europe accounts for just $3.46 trillion or 11% of the total market cap value of the list.
A major reason for the U.S. dominance in market values is a shift in important industries and contributors. Of the worldโs top 100 companies, 52% were based in either technology or consumer discretionary, and the current largest players like Apple, Alphabet, Tesla, and Walmart are all American-based.
The Top 100 Companies of the World: Competition From China
The biggest and most impressive competitor to the U.S. is China.
With 14 companies of its own in the worldโs top 100, China accounted for $4.19 trillion or 13% of the top 100โs total market cap value. That includes two of the top 10 firms by market cap, Tencent and Alibaba.
Company | Country | Sector | Market Cap (May 2021) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | Apple | United States | Technology | $2,051B |
#2 | Saudi Aramco | Saudi Arabia | Energy | $1,920B |
#3 | Microsoft | United States | Technology | $1,778B |
#4 | Amazon | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $1,558B |
#5 | Alphabet | United States | Technology | $1,393B |
#6 | United States | Technology | $839B | |
#7 | Tencent | China | Technology | $753B |
#8 | Tesla | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $641B |
#9 | Alibaba | China | Consumer Discretionary | $615B |
#10 | Berkshire Hathway | United States | Financials | $588B |
#11 | TSMC | China | Technology | $534B |
#12 | Visa | United States | Industrials | $468B |
#13 | JPMorgan Chase | United States | Financials | $465B |
#14 | Johnson & Johnson | United States | Health Care | $433B |
#15 | Samsung Electronics | South Korea | Technology | $431B |
#16 | Kweichow Moutai | China | Consumer Staples | $385B |
#17 | Walmart | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $383B |
#18 | Mastercard | United States | Industrials | $354B |
#19 | UnitedHealth Group | United States | Health Care | $352B |
#20 | LVMH Moรซt Hennessy | France | Consumer Discretionary | $337B |
#21 | Walt Disney Co | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $335B |
#22 | Bank of America | United States | Financials | $334B |
#23 | Procter & Gamble | United States | Consumer Staples | $333B |
#24 | Nvidia | United States | Technology | $331B |
#25 | Home Depot | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $329B |
#26 | Nestle SA | Switzerland | Consumer Staples | $322B |
#27 | ICBC | China | Financials | $290B |
#28 | Paypal Holdings | United States | Industrials | $284B |
#29 | Roche Holdings | Switzerland | Health Care | $283B |
#30 | Intel | United States | Technology | $261B |
#31 | ASML Holding NV | Netherlands | Technology | $255B |
#32 | Toyota Motor | Japan | Consumer Discretionary | $254B |
#33 | Comcast | United States | Telecommunication | $248B |
#34 | Verizon Communications | United States | Telecommunication | $241B |
#35 | Exxon Mobil | United States | Energy | $236B |
#36 | Netflix | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $231B |
#37 | Adobe | United States | Technology | $228B |
#38 | Coca-Cola Co | United States | Consumer Staples | $227B |
#39 | Meituan | China | Technology | $226B |
#40 | Ping An | China | Financials | $219B |
#41 | Cisco Systems | United States | Telecommunication | $218B |
#42 | AT&T | United States | Financials | $216B |
#43 | L'Orรฉal | France | Consumer Discretionary | $215B |
#44 | China Construction Bank | China | Financials | $213B |
#45 | Abbott Labs | United States | Health Care | $212B |
#46 | Novartis AG | Switzerland | Health Care | $212B |
#47 | Nike | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $209B |
#48 | Oracle | United States | Technology | $202B |
#49 | Pfizer | United States | Health Care | $202B |
#50 | Chevron | United States | Oil & Gas | $202B |
#51 | China Merchants Bank | China | Financials | $196B |
#52 | PepsiCo | United States | Consumer Staples | $195B |
#53 | Salesforce.com | United States | Technology | $195B |
#54 | Merck & Co | United States | Health Care | $195B |
#55 | AbbVie | United States | Health Care | $191B |
#56 | Broadcom | United States | Technology | $189B |
#57 | Prosus NV | Netherlands | Technology | $181B |
#58 | Reliance Industries | India | Energy | $180B |
#59 | Thermo Fisher Scientific | United States | Health Care | $180B |
#60 | Eli Lilly & Co | United States | Health Care | $179B |
#61 | Agricultural Bank of China | China | Financials | $178B |
#62 | Softbank Group | Japan | Telecommunication | $176B |
#63 | Accenture | Ireland | Industrials | $176B |
#64 | Texas Instruments | United States | Technology | $174B |
#65 | McDonalds | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $167B |
#66 | Volkswagen AG | Germany | Consumer Discretionary | $165B |
#67 | BHP Group | Australia | Basic Materials | $163B |
#68 | Wells Fargo & Co | United States | Financials | $162B |
#69 | Tata Consultancy Services | India | Technology | $161B |
#70 | Danaher | United States | Health Care | $160B |
#71 | Novo Nordisk | Denmark | Health Care | $160B |
#72 | Medtronic | Ireland | Health Care | $159B |
#73 | Wuliangye Yibin | China | Consumer Staples | $159B |
#74 | Costco Wholesale | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $156B |
#75 | T-Mobile US | United States | Telecommunication | $156B |
#76 | Citigroup | United States | Financials | $152B |
#77 | Honeywell | United States | Industrials | $151B |
#78 | Qualcomm | United States | Technology | $151B |
#79 | SAP SE | Germany | Technology | $151B |
#80 | Boeing | United States | Industrials | $149B |
#81 | Royal Dutch Shell | Netherlands | Oil & Gas | $148B |
#82 | NextEra Energy | United States | Utilities | $148B |
#83 | United Parcel Service | United States | Industrials | $148B |
#84 | Union PAC | United States | Industrials | $148B |
#85 | Unilever | United Kingdom | Consumer Staples | $147B |
#86 | AIA | China | Financials | $147B |
#87 | Linde | United Kingdom | Basic Materials | $146B |
#88 | Amgen | United States | Health Care | $144B |
#89 | Bristol Myers Squibb | United States | Health Care | $141B |
#90 | Siemens AG | Germany | Industrials | $140B |
#91 | Bank of China | China | Financials | $139B |
#92 | Philip Morris | United States | Consumer Staples | $138B |
#93 | Lowe's Companies | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $136B |
#94 | Charter Communications | United States | Telecommunication | $135B |
#95 | China Mobile | China | Telecommunication | $134B |
#96 | Sony Group | Japan | Consumer Discretionary | $132B |
#97 | Astrazeneca | United Kingdom | Health Care | $131B |
#98 | Royal Bank of Canada | Canada | Financials | $131B |
#99 | Starbucks | United States | Consumer Discretionary | $129B |
#100 | Anheuser-Busch | Belgium | Consumer Staples | $128B |
Impressively, Chinaโs rise in market value isnโt limited to well-known tech and consumer companies. The countryโs second biggest contributing industry to the top 100 firms was finance, once also the most valuable sector in the U.S. (currently 4th behind tech, consumer discretionary, and health care).
Other notable countries on the list include Saudi Arabia and its state-owned oil and gas giant Saudi Aramco, which is the third largest company in the world. Despite only having one company in the top 100, Saudi Arabia had the third-largest share of the top 100โs total market cap value.
As Europe continues to lose ground year-over-year and the rest of Asia struggles to keep up, the top 100 companies might become increasingly concentrated in just the U.S. and China. The question is, will the imbalance of global market value start to even out, or become even bigger?
Countries
Charted: The Number of Democracies Globally
How many democracies does the world have? This visual shows the change since 1945 and the top nations becoming more (and less) democratic.

Charted: The Number of Democracies Globally
The end of World War II in 1945 was a turning point for democracies around the world.
Before this critical turning point in geopolitics, democracies made up only a small number of the world’s countries, both legally and in practice. However, over the course of the next six decades, the number of democratic nations would more than quadruple.
Interestingly, studies have found that this trend has recently reversed as of the 2010s, with democracies and non-democracies now in a deadlock.
In this visualization, Staffan Landin uses data from V-DEMโs Electoral Democratic Index (EDI) to highlight the changing face of global politics over the past two decades and the nations that contributed the most to this change.
The Methodology
V-DEM’s EDI attempts to measure democratic development in a comprehensive way, through the contributions of 3,700 experts from countries around the world.
Instead of relying on each nation’s legally recognized system of government, the EDI analyzes the level of electoral democracy in countries on a range of indicators, including:
- Free and fair elections
- Rule of law
- Alternative sources of information and association
- Freedom of expression
Countries are assigned a score on a scale from 0 to 1, with higher scores indicating a higher level of democracy. Each is also categorized into four types of functional government, from liberal and electoral democracies to electoral and closed autocracies.
Which Countries Have Declined the Most?
The EDI found that numerous countries around the world saw declines in democracy over the past two decades. Here are the 10 countries that saw the steepest decline in EDI score since 2010:
Country | Democracy Index (2010) | Democracy Index (2022) | Points Lost |
---|---|---|---|
๐ญ๐บ Hungary | 0.80 | 0.46 | -34 |
๐ต๐ฑ Poland | 0.89 | 0.59 | -30 |
๐ท๐ธ Serbia | 0.61 | 0.34 | -27 |
๐น๐ท Turkey | 0.55 | 0.28 | -27 |
๐ฎ๐ณ India | 0.71 | 0.44 | -27 |
๐ฒ๐ฑ Mali | 0.51 | 0.25 | -26 |
๐น๐ญ Thailand | 0.44 | 0.20 | -24 |
๐ฆ๐ซ Afghanistan | 0.38 | 0.16 | -22 |
๐ง๐ท Brazil | 0.88 | 0.66 | -22 |
๐ง๐ฏ Benin | 0.64 | 0.42 | -22 |
Central and Eastern Europe was home to three of the countries seeing the largest declines in democracy. Hungary, Poland, and Serbia lead the table, with Hungary and Serbia in particular dropping below scores of 0.5.
Some of the world’s largest countries by population also decreased significantly, including India and Brazil. Across most of the top 10, the “freedom of expression” indicator was hit particularly hard, with notable increases in media censorship to be found in Afghanistan and Brazil.
Countries Becoming More Democratic
Here are the 10 countries that saw the largest increase in EDI score since 2010:
Country | Democracy Index (2010) | Democracy Index (2022) | Points Gained |
---|---|---|---|
๐ฆ๐ฒ Armenia | 0.34 | 0.74 | +40 |
๐ซ๐ฏ Fiji | 0.14 | 0.40 | +26 |
๐ฌ๐ฒ The Gambia | 0.25 | 0.50 | +25 |
๐ธ๐จ Seychelles | 0.45 | 0.67 | +22 |
๐ฒ๐ฌ Madagascar | 0.28 | 0.48 | +20 |
๐น๐ณ Tunisia | 0.40 | 0.56 | +16 |
๐ฑ๐ฐ Sri Lanka | 0.42 | 0.57 | +15 |
๐ฌ๐ผ Guinea-Bissau | 0.41 | 0.56 | +15 |
๐ฒ๐ฉ Moldova | 0.59 | 0.74 | +15 |
๐ณ๐ต Nepal | 0.46 | 0.59 | +13 |
Armenia, Fiji, and Seychelles saw significant improvement in the autonomy of their electoral management bodies in the last 10 years. Partially as a result, both Armenia and Seychelles have seen their scores rise above 0.5.
The Gambia also saw great improvement across many election indicators, including the quality of voter registries, vote buying, and election violence. It was one of five African countries to make the top 10 most improved democracies.
With the total number of democracies and non-democracies almost tied over the past four years, it is hard to predict the political atmosphere in the future.
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