Markets

Visualizing the Composition of the World Economy by GDP (PPP)

Published

5 years ago

September 30, 2019

Jeff Desjardins

The Composition of the World Economy by GDP (PPP)

Earlier this month, we showed you the world’s $86 trillion economy broken down by country, using nominal GDP calculations.

While this is one useful way to view the global economic picture, it’s not the only way.

Today’s visualization, which comes to us from HowMuch.net, is similar in that it also uses a Voronoi diagram to display the composition of the world economy by GDP. However, by adjusting data for purchasing power parity (PPP), it produces a very different view of how global productivity breaks down.

What is PPP?

Purchasing power parity, or PPP, is an economic theory that can be applied to adjust the prices of goods in a given market.

In essence, instead of using current market rates for prices (such as in nominal data), PPP tries to more accurately account for differences in the cost of living between countries – especially in places where labor and goods are far cheaper.

When applied to GDP measurements, PPP can help provide a more accurate picture of actual productivity. For example, a taxi ride in Bolivia may be far cheaper than one in New York City, even though it is the same service provided over the same distance.

Applying PPP to GDP figures can help correct for these types of differences.

Ranked: Economies by GDP (PPP)

After adjusting for PPP, how does the composition of the global economy change from the nominal numbers?

Below are the 15 largest economies by GDP (PPP), as well as how their ranking changed from the previous chart, which used nominal data.

Rank	Country	GDP (2018, PPP)	Share of World Total	Change (vs. nominal rank)
#1	🇨🇳 China	$25.4 trillion	18.6%	+1
#2	🇺🇸 United States	$20.5 trillion	15.0%	-1
#3	🇮🇳 India	$10.5 trillion	7.7%	+4
#4	🇯🇵 Japan	$5.5 trillion	4.0%	-1
#5	🇩🇪 Germany	$4.5 trillion	3.3%	-1
#6	🇷🇺 Russia	$4.0 trillion	2.9%	+5
#7	🇮🇩 Indonesia	$3.5 trillion	2.6%	+9
#8	🇧🇷 Brazil	$3.4 trillion	2.5%	+1
#9	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	$3.1 trillion	2.3%	-4
#10	🇫🇷 France	$3.1 trillion	2.3%	-4
#11	🇮🇹 Italy	$2.5 trillion	1.9%	-3
#12	🇲🇽 Mexico	$2.5 trillion	1.9%	+3
#13	🇹🇷 Turkey	$2.4 trillion	1.7%	+6
#14	🇰🇷 Korea, Rep.	$2.1 trillion	1.5%	-2
#15	🇪🇸 Spain	$1.9 trillion	1.4%	-1

Using GDP (PPP), the world economy is worth $136.5 trillion in current international U.S. dollars.

What changed the most from the nominal ranking?

With PPP, you can see Indonesia ($3.5 trillion) jumps up the ranking by nine spots to become the #7 ranked economy. Likewise, Turkey ($2.4 trillion) and India ($10.5 trillion) both climb the ranking by six and four spots respectively. China also switches with the U.S., to become the world’s largest economy.

On the flipside, it is often the more developed economies with strong currencies that see a drop in their rankings. After adjusting for PPP, the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, and the U.K. all slip from their previous positions.

For more on GDP (PPP), see the projections for the world’s largest 10 economies in 2030 that we published earlier this year.

Related Topics:china GDP world economy PPP

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Markets

Ranked: The Largest U.S. Corporations by Number of Employees

We visualized the top U.S. companies by employees, revealing the massive scale of retailers like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot.

Published

23 hours ago

April 15, 2024

Marcus Lu

The Largest U.S. Corporations by Number of Employees

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Revenue and profit are common measures for measuring the size of a business, but what about employee headcount?

To see how big companies have become from a human perspective, we’ve visualized the top U.S. companies by employees. These figures come from companiesmarketcap.com, and were accessed in March 2024. Note that this ranking includes publicly-traded companies only.

Data and Highlights

The data we used to create this list of largest U.S. corporations by number of employees can be found in the table below.

Company	Sector	Number of Employees
Walmart	Consumer Staples	2,100,000
Amazon	Consumer Discretionary	1,500,000
UPS	Industrials	500,000
Home Depot	Consumer Discretionary	470,000
Concentrix	Information Technology	440,000
Target	Consumer Staples	440,000
Kroger	Consumer Staples	430,000
UnitedHealth	Health Care	400,000
Berkshire Hathaway	Financials	383,000
Starbucks	Consumer Discretionary	381,000
Marriott International	Consumer Discretionary	377,000
Cognizant	Information Technology	346,600

Retail and Logistics Top the List

Companies like Walmart, Target, and Kroger have a massive headcount due to having many locations spread across the country, which require everything from cashiers to IT professionals.

Moving goods around the world is also highly labor intensive, explaining why UPS has half a million employees globally.

Below the Radar?

Two companies that rank among the largest U.S. corporations by employees which may be less familiar to the public include Concentrix and Cognizant. Both of these companies are B2B brands, meaning they primarily work with other companies rather than consumers. This contrasts with brands like Amazon or Home Depot, which are much more visible among average consumers.

A Note on Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett’s company doesn’t directly employ 383,000 people. This headcount actually includes the employees of the firm’s many subsidiaries, such as GEICO (insurance), Dairy Queen (retail), and Duracell (batteries).

If you’re curious to see how Buffett’s empire has grown over the years, check out this animated graphic that visualizes the growth of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio from 1994 to 2022.