Last year I started to pay more attention to the TOP 10 largest economies in the World by terms of Gross Domestic Product. It's time to compare them again.
Top 20 Largest Economies In The World by GDP Nominal (2019)
Gross Domestic Product in TOP 10 Largest Economies 2013
| Rank | Country | 2012 | 2013 | Growth bln $ | Growth % |
| 1 | United States | 16,244 | 16,800 | 556 | 3.42 |
| 2 | China | 8,229 | 9,240 | 1,011 | 12.28 |
| 3 | Japan | 5,937 | 4,901 | -1,036 | -17.44 |
| 4 | Germany | 3,425 | 3,634 | 209 | 6.10 |
| 5 | France | 2,611 | 2,734 | 123 | 4.71 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 2,461 | 2,522 | 61 | 2.47 |
| 7 | Brazil | 2,248 | 2,245 | -3 | -0.13 |
| 8 | Russia | 2,017 | 2,096 | 79 | 3.91 |
| 9 | Italy | 2,013 | 2,071 | 58 | 2.88 |
| 10 | India | 1,858 | 1,876 | 18 | 0.96 |
| Total | 47,043 | 48,119 | 1,076 | 2.28 |
Data source:World Bank
What makes me surprised - Japan. Japan has experienced 17.44% downgrade of it's economy. Since Japan is 3d largest economy of the world - it would mean more troubles for the rest of the world. For quick assumption - I'm thinking it's because of China is continuing to expand it's economy. Actually in terms of what Japan has lost, and what China has gained - it seems almost equal - while Japan has lost around $1 trillion of it's economy, China has gained $1 trillion for its economy.
Here is what I found on Wikipedia:
Japan is the world's third largest automobile manufacturing country, has the largest electronics goods industry, and is often ranked among the world's most innovative countries leading several measures of global patent filings. Facing increasing competition from China and South Korea, manufacturing in Japan today now focuses primarily on high-tech and precision goods, such as optical instruments, Hybrid vehicles, and robotics.
Could China's increasing rivalry on auto mobile market be one of the main factors of downfall of Japanese economy?
Anyway, Japan has already in past experienced similar falls and rise, so I do believe Japan could recover quickly.
United States continues to be worlds largest economy, if not taking European Union in account. The growth in US in 2013 was 3.42%
China - continues its fantastic race for worlds leader in terms of economy. If China will continue like this - in 7-10 years China will overpass United States. Although I'm more skeptical on this. But who knows!
There is one more country, that experienced recession from Worlds TOP 10 - Brazil. Although it's recession is not as huge as Japan's it's still a recession with 0.13%. Could it be of World Cup?
Read more about my thoughts and findings on BRICS countries.
Germany shows pretty eager growth in terms of GDP reaching 6.10% growth. Could we call Germany a Driving force of European Union?
Anyway this year in European Union was stable, and smaller economies of European Union could take a breath for a while.
Russia got 3.91% growth (Cant understand why many people are speaking of recession here???) - Time will show, how economy of Russia will look in 2014, after US and EU sanctions on it. But I believe Russia will have positive growth this year. Hard to tell about closer future. One is for sure - Russia will stay in World TOP 10 economies for next decades.
GDP per capita in TOP 10 World's Largest economies (2013/2012)
Top Largest countries by GDP per Capita
| Rank | Country | 2012 $ ths | 2013 $ths | Growth $ ths | Growth % |
| 1 | United States | 51,755 | 53,143 | 1,388 | 2.68 |
| 2 | Germany | 42,598 | 45,085 | 2,487 | 5.83 |
| 3 | France | 39,759 | 41,421 | 1,662 | 4.18 |
| 4 | United Kingdom | 38,649 | 39,351 | 702 | 1.81 |
| 5 | Japan | 46,548 | 38,492 | -8,056 | -17.30 |
| 6 | Italy | 33,814 | 34,619 | 805 | 2.38 |
| 7 | Russia | 14,091 | 14,612 | 521 | 3.69 |
| 8 | Brazil | 11,320 | 11,208 | -112 | -0.98 |
| 9 | China | 6,093 | 6,807 | 714 | 11.71 |
| 10 | India | 1,503 | 1,499 | -4 |
-0.26 |
Data source: World Bank
As we can see from table above, clear leader in terms of GDP per capita are United States, followed by Germany.
It's interesting to observe, that India's GDP per capita has decreased (-0.26%) despite it's overall Economy grow by modest 0.96%. I can explain this just with rising population in India.
Japan despite it's huge GDP drop, has managed to have GDP per capita approve the same as the United Kingdom.
BRICS countries are underdogs in this table, with Russia being at top.
In Conclusion
World is getting richer, while gap between rich and poor is getting wider. Will see what future will bring on.