Monday, June 15, 2009

The world's biggest economies in 2008

The league table in terms of US dollar GDP.

The European Union, if counted as a single country, would be the largest, coming in at $18 trillion.

10 comments:

  1. The UK is down one place, with France taking our place.

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  2. What never gets mentioned about the UK is its false wealth. While it is true we rank at sixth in global wealth, most of this wealth is producted and invested overseas. Little of it is generated in the UK, or stays in the UK. It is why you have the irony of the UK's national wealth, yet so much domestic poverty and failure and decaying infrastructure. The money just churns through the City, before it is firehosed out across the globe.

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  3. Alice, your UK GDP is not a number I recognise. The last I have is £1236 billion. At 1.63 US to the pound, that is $2002 billion.

    But, as there are many different ways of working it out, who can you believe?

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  4. Acorn, just guessing but the CIA GDP estimate is higher (perhaps GDP1.4 trillion), with a period average exchange rate for 2008, which could be somewhere around 1.85.

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  5. Shouldn't this all be calculated at Purchasing Power Parity?

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  6. PPP per Capita?

    Wikipedia has 3 lists, and the UK is 18th, 16th or 24th depending on source, and what you define as a country.

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  7. The bigger you are the harder you can fall (EU/US).

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  8. Sadly, all of the things that got us to first place here in America are fading away - self-reliance, small government and fiscal prudence. Now we're $1.8T in the red and debating yet another benefit for people who haven't earned it - universal health care.

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  9. How about comparing GNP instead? Seems a more realistic measure of economic activity within a country.

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  10. Most highest economy is America this is on top of all and second one is Japan these are two big country and work very well.

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