Connect with us

Money

Visualizing the $94 Trillion World Economy in One Chart

Published

on

View the expanded version of this infographic to see all countries.

Global GDP by Country 2021

Can I share this graphic?
Yes. Visualizations are free to share and post in their original form across the web—even for publishers. Please link back to this page and attribute Visual Capitalist.
When do I need a license?
Licenses are required for some commercial uses, translations, or layout modifications. You can even whitelabel our visualizations. Explore your options.
Interested in this piece?
Click here to license this visualization.

The $94 Trillion World Economy in One Chart

View the expanded version of this infographic.

Just four countries—the U.S., China, Japan, and Germany—make up over half of the world’s economic output by gross domestic product (GDP) in nominal terms. In fact, the GDP of the U.S. alone is greater than the combined GDP of 170 countries.

How do the different economies of the world compare? In this visualization we look at GDP by country in 2021, using data and estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

An Overview of GDP

GDP serves as a broad indicator for a country’s economic output. It measures the total market value of final goods and services produced in a country in a specific timeframe, such as a quarter or year. In addition, GDP also takes into consideration the output of services provided by the government, such as money spent on defense, healthcare, or education.

Generally speaking, when GDP is increasing in a country, it is a sign of greater economic activity that benefits workers and businesses (while the reverse is true for a decline).

The World Economy: Top 50 Countries

Who are the biggest contributors to the global economy? Here is the ranking of the 50 largest countries by GDP in 2021:

RankCountryGDP ($T)% of Global GDP
1🇺🇸 U.S.$22.924.4%
2🇨🇳 China$16.917.9%
3🇯🇵 Japan$5.15.4%
4🇩🇪 Germany$4.24.5%
5🇬🇧 UK$3.13.3%
6🇮🇳 India$2.93.1%
7🇫🇷 France$2.93.1%
8🇮🇹 Italy$2.12.3%
9🇨🇦 Canada$2.02.1%
10🇰🇷 Korea$1.81.9%
11🇷🇺 Russia$1.61.7%
12🇧🇷 Brazil$1.61.7%
13🇦🇺 Australia$1.61.7%
14🇪🇸 Spain$1.41.5%
15🇲🇽 Mexico$1.31.4%
16🇮🇩 Indonesia$1.21.2%
17🇮🇷 Iran$1.11.1%
18🇳🇱 Netherlands$1.01.1%
19🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia$0.80.9%
20🇨🇭 Switzerland$0.80.9%
21🇹🇷 Turkey$0.80.8%
22🇹🇼 Taiwan $0.80.8%
23🇵🇱 Poland$0.70.7%
24🇸🇪 Sweden$0.60.7%
25🇧🇪 Belgium$0.60.6%
26🇹🇭 Thailand$0.50.6%
27🇮🇪 Ireland$0.50.5%
28🇦🇹 Austria$0.50.5%
29🇳🇬 Nigeria$0.50.5%
30🇮🇱 Israel$0.50.5%
31🇦🇷 Argentina$0.50.5%
32🇳🇴 Norway$0.40.5%
33🇿🇦 South Africa$0.40.4%
34🇦🇪 UAE$0.40.4%
35🇩🇰 Denmark$0.40.4%
36🇪🇬 Egypt$0.40.4%
37🇵🇭 Philippines$0.40.4%
38🇸🇬 Singapore$0.40.4%
39🇲🇾 Malaysia$0.40.4%
40🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR$0.40.4%
41🇻🇳 Vietnam$0.40.4%
42🇧🇩 Bangladesh$0.40.4%
43🇨🇱 Chile$0.30.4%
44🇨🇴 Colombia$0.30.3%
45🇫🇮 Finland$0.30.3%
46🇷🇴 Romania$0.30.3%
47🇨🇿 Czech Republic$0.30.3%
48🇵🇹 Portugal$0.30.3%
49🇵🇰 Pakistan$0.3*0.3%
50🇳🇿 New Zealand$0.20.3%

*2020 GDP (latest available) used where IMF estimates for 2021 were unavailable.

At $22.9 trillion, the U.S. GDP accounts for roughly 25% of the global economy, a share that has actually changed significantly over the last 60 years. The finance, insurance, and real estate ($4.7 trillion) industries add the most to the country’s economy, followed by professional and business services ($2.7 trillion) and government ($2.6 trillion).

China’s economy is second in nominal terms, hovering at near $17 trillion in GDP. It remains the largest manufacturer worldwide based on output with extensive production of steel, electronics, and robotics, among others.

The largest economy in Europe is Germany, which exports roughly 20% of the world’s motor vehicles. In 2019, overall trade equaled nearly 90% of the country’s GDP.

The World Economy: 50 Smallest Countries

On the other end of the spectrum are the world’s smallest economies by GDP, primarily developing and island nations.

With a GDP of $70 million, Tuvalu is the smallest economy in the world. Situated between Hawaii and Australia, the largest industry of this volcanic archipelago relies on territorial fishing rights.

In addition, the country earns significant revenue from its “.tv” web domain. Between 2011 and 2019, it earned $5 million annually from companies—including Amazon-owned Twitch to license the Twitch.tv domain name—equivalent to roughly 7% of the country’s GDP.

CountriesRegionGDP (B)
🇹🇻 TuvaluOceania$0.07
🇳🇷 NauruOceania$0.1
🇵🇼 PalauOceania$0.2
🇰🇮 KiribatiOceania$0.2
🇲🇭 Marshall IslandsOceania$0.2
🇫🇲 MicronesiaOceania$0.4
🇨🇰 Cook IslandsOceania$0.4*
🇹🇴 TongaOceania$0.5
🇸🇹 São Tomé and PríncipeAfrica$0.5
🇩🇲 DominicaCaribbean$0.6
🇻🇨 St. Vincent and the GrenadinesCaribbean$0.8
🇼🇸 SamoaOceania$0.8
🇰🇳 St. Kitts and NevisCaribbean$1.0
🇻🇺 VanuatuOceania$1.0
🇬🇩 GrenadaCaribbean$1.1
🇰🇲 ComorosAfrica$1.3
🇸🇨 SeychellesAfrica$1.3
🇦🇬 Antigua and BarbudaCaribbean$1.4
🇬🇼 Guinea-BissauAfrica$1.6
🇸🇧 Solomon IslandsOceania$1.7
🇹🇱 Timor-LesteAsia$1.7
🇱🇨 St. LuciaCaribbean$1.7
🇸🇲 San MarinoEurope$1.7
🇨🇻 Cabo VerdeAfrica$1.9
🇧🇿 BelizeCentral America$1.9
🇬🇲 GambiaAfrica$2.0
🇪🇷 EritreaAfrica$2.3
🇱🇸 LesothoAfrica$2.5
🇧🇹 BhutanAsia$2.5
🇨🇫 Central African RepublicAfrica$2.6
🇸🇷 SurinameSouth America$2.8
🇦🇼 ArubaCaribbean$2.9
🇧🇮 BurundiAfrica$3.2
🇦🇩 AndorraEurope$3.2
🇸🇸 South SudanAfrica$3.3
🇱🇷 LiberiaAfrica$3.4
🇩🇯 DjiboutiAfrica$3.7
🇸🇱 Sierra LeoneAfrica$4.4
🇸🇿 EswatiniAfrica$4.5
🇲🇻 MaldivesAsia$4.6
🇫🇯 FijiOceania$4.6
🇧🇧 BarbadosCaribbean$4.7
🇸🇴 SomaliaAfrica$5.4
🇲🇪 MontenegroEurope$5.5
🇱🇮 LiechtensteinEurope$6.8*
🇬🇾 GuyanaSouth America$7.4
🇲🇨 MonacoEurope$7.4*
🇹🇯 TajikistanAsia$8.1
🇰🇬 Kyrgyz RepublicAsia$8.2
🇹🇬 TogoAfrica$8.5

*2019 GDP (latest available) used where IMF estimates for 2021 were unavailable.

Like Tuvalu, many of the world’s smallest economies are in Oceania, including Nauru, Palau, and Kiribati. Additionally, several countries above rely on the tourism industry for over one-third of their employment.

The Fastest Growing Economies in the World in 2021

With 123% projected GDP growth, Libya’s economy is estimated to have the sharpest rise.

Oil is propelling its growth, with 1.2 million barrels being pumped in the country daily. Along with this, exports and a depressed currency are among the primary factors behind its recovery.

RankCountryRegion
2021 Real GDP Growth (Annual % Change)
1🇱🇾 Libya Africa123.2%
2🇬🇾 Guyana South America20.4%
3🇲🇴 Macao Asia20.4%
4🇲🇻 Maldives Asia18.9%
5🇮🇪 Ireland Europe13.0%
6🇦🇼 Aruba Caribbean12.8%
7🇵🇦 Panama Central America12.0%
8🇨🇱 Chile South America11.0%
9🇵🇪 PeruSouth America10.0%
10🇩🇴 Dominican RepublicCaribbean9.5%

Ireland’s economy, with a projected 13% real GDP growth, is being supported by the largest multinational corporations in the world. Facebook, TikTok, Google, Apple, and Pfizer all have their European headquarters in the country, which has a 12.5% corporate tax rate—or about half the global average. But these rates are set to change soon, as Ireland joined the OECD 15% minimum corporate tax rate agreement which was finalized in October 2021.

Macao’s economy bounced back after COVID-19 restrictions began to lift, but more storm clouds are on the horizon for the Chinese district. The CCP’s anti-corruption campaign and recent arrests could signal a more strained relationship between Mainland China and the world’s largest gambling hub.

Looking Ahead at the World’s GDP

The global GDP figure of $94 trillion may seem massive to us today, but such a total might seem much more modest in the future.

In 1970, the world economy was only about $3 trillion in GDP—or 30 times smaller than it is today. Over the next thirty years, the global economy is expected to more or less double again. By 2050, global GDP could total close to $180 trillion.

Correction: In earlier versions of this graphic, countries such as Vietnam and Pakistan were inadvertently not included in the visualization. They have now been added. In cases where the IMF has no data for 2021 (specifically Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, and Lebanon), the latest available data is used.

Subscribe to Visual Capitalist
Click for Comments

Economy

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Public trust in the Federal Reserve chair has hit its lowest point in 20 years. Get the details in this infographic.

Published

on

The Briefing

  • Gallup conducts an annual poll to gauge the U.S. public’s trust in the Federal Reserve
  • After rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, public trust has fallen to a 20-year low

 

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Each year, Gallup conducts a survey of American adults on various economic topics, including the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

More specifically, respondents are asked how much confidence they have in the current Fed chairman to do or recommend the right thing for the U.S. economy. We’ve visualized these results from 2001 to 2023 to see how confidence levels have changed over time.

Methodology and Results

The data used in this infographic is also listed in the table below. Percentages reflect the share of respondents that have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence.

YearFed chair% Great deal or Fair amount
2023Jerome Powell36%
2022Jerome Powell43%
2021Jerome Powell55%
2020Jerome Powell58%
2019Jerome Powell50%
2018Jerome Powell45%
2017Janet Yellen45%
2016Janet Yellen38%
2015Janet Yellen42%
2014Janet Yellen37%
2013Ben Bernanke42%
2012Ben Bernanke39%
2011Ben Bernanke41%
2010Ben Bernanke44%
2009Ben Bernanke49%
2008Ben Bernanke47%
2007Ben Bernanke50%
2006Ben Bernanke41%
2005Alan Greenspan56%
2004Alan Greenspan61%
2003Alan Greenspan65%
2002Alan Greenspan69%
2001Alan Greenspan74%

Data for 2023 collected April 3-25, with this statement put to respondents: “Please tell me how much confidence you have [in the Fed chair] to recommend the right thing for the economy.”

We can see that trust in the Federal Reserve has fluctuated significantly in recent years.

For example, under Alan Greenspan, trust was initially high due to the relative stability of the economy. The burst of the dotcom bubble—which some attribute to Greenspan’s easy credit policies—resulted in a sharp decline.

On the flip side, public confidence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was likely due to Jerome Powell’s decisive actions to provide support to the U.S. economy throughout the crisis.

Measures implemented by the Fed include bringing interest rates to near zero, quantitative easing (buying government bonds with newly-printed money), and emergency lending programs to businesses.

Confidence Now on the Decline

After peaking at 58%, those with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Fed chair have tumbled to 36%, the lowest number in 20 years.

This is likely due to Powell’s hard stance on fighting post-pandemic inflation, which has involved raising interest rates at an incredible speed. While these rate hikes may be necessary, they also have many adverse effects:

  • Negative impact on the stock market
  • Increases the burden for those with variable-rate debts
  • Makes mortgages and home buying less affordable

Higher rates have also prompted many U.S. tech companies to shrink their workforces, and have been a factor in the regional banking crisis, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Gallup (2023)

Data Notes: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted April 3-25, 2023, with a random sample of –1,013—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. See source for details.

Continue Reading

Subscribe

Popular