Economic history of the world in stats

**~~Albion~~** · 06-30-2011, 12:21 PM

Below I have compiled results showing the GDP (PPP) of the territory of a selection of world nations. These statistics are from Wikipedia, and I have omitted figures for collective groupings such as 'Eastern Europe', 'Former USSR', 'West Asia' and similar.

The aim of it is to show the rise and decline of different economies through history, however don't be misled - as is the case with the UK in the 1800s, rapid rise of a few countries can make it appear as if other countries are declining, but to see the results in detail I refer you to the source of the data.

Displayed are the top ten countries in terms of total GDP (PPP), if you want the results for the other countries then you can click the spoiler bars below each of the top ten results and you will see the results continuing in order from the last country on the top ten of the list.

Highlighted are European countries and the USA.

1AD:

India
China
Italy (not far behind the total for Africa as a whole!)
France
Spain
Germany
Japan
Mexico
UK
USA

Spoiler!

My personal comments:

India at this time was an advanced civilisation with strong nations as too was China. Italy was influential and economically powerful as the hub of the Roman Empire.
Whilst America was under the rule of native tribes, it did have some more advanced tribes in the South West and this figure is for the territory the size of much of Europe.

**~~Albion~~** · 06-30-2011, 12:22 PM

1000 AD:

India
China
Japan
France
Italy
Spain
Mexico
Germany
UK
USA

Spoiler!

My personal comments:

Europe is beginning to reorganise after the fall of the Roman Empire, the old nations of Western Europe have began to form - including amongst them France and England.
The Islamic Golden Age (for them!) is in full swing and the Scandinavians are raiding parts of Western Europe as the Vikings.
India and China continue ahead as their favourable climates, resources and geography allow them to build up large nations than what could be achieved in the warring states of Europe, jostling for space and resources.
France becomes the hub of Western Europe as can be seen here.

1500s:

China
India
Italy
France
Germany
Japan
Spain
Mexico
UK
Austria

Spoiler!

My personal comments:

Italy becomes influential again in Europe during the Middle Ages, much because of the success of it's Northern states which accounted for a lot of trade. Although not yet unified, the Peninsular is highly influential in controlling trade around Western Europe.
The UK can be noted as being roughly at the same level throughout much of it's history, not amongst the poorest but neither the richest nations. It had a large economy largely dominated internally by England and if stats were available for England Scotland and Wales individually then Scotland and Wales would be very far down the list, probably with Norway and Finland.
What is notable is that this is around the time that the first attempts at empires were taking hold, spurred on by Iberians.

**~~Albion~~** · 06-30-2011, 12:23 PM

1820s:

China
India
UK
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
USA
Spain
Mexico

Spoiler!

My personal comments:

What is noticeable here is the economic growth of Europe, especially the UK. The UK became an industrial powerhouse and although it here is displayed as having the third largest economy in the world, that figure is for the modern territory only - with the British Empire as well it was very easily the first and controlled an incredible amount of world trade.

1870s:

China
India
UK
USA
Germany
France
Italy
Japan
Spain
Belgium

Spoiler!

My personal comments:

What is striking here is the pace of US growth, catching up to Britain at great speed. However it is still important to note the incredible economic output that must have been taking place in Britain at this time - the UK had a population of around 38 million - the population of the UK only reached 30 million by 1901!
Eventually the larger population of America and competition from it and Germany would overtake Britain, although combined with the British Empire the figure would be much higher still.

**~~Albion~~** · 06-30-2011, 12:23 PM

1930:

USA
China
Germany
UK
India
France
Italy
Japan
Spain
Belgium

Spoiler!

My personal comments:

Here the USA and Germany can be seen to have overtaken the figures for Britain (excluding the empire) and can be explained by the rapid growth of these countries, large labour force (especially America) and the ending of British-domination of new technologies.

1950s:

USA
UK
Germany
China
India
France
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Spain

Spoiler!

My personal comments:

Having been devastated by war, much of Europe slipped down the table but the wars had provided a opportunity for the USA to grow whilst China and much of Europe had been hit hard.
Also noticeable is the economic strength of Germany, despite being on the loosing end of both World Wars.

**~~Albion~~** · 06-30-2011, 12:24 PM

1973:

USA
Japan
Germany
China
France
UK
Italy
India
Mexico
Spain

Spoiler!

My personal comments:

This period can be noticed the resurgence of the large Asian economies, both China and India having the advantage of very large economies and internal markets.
At this point the European nations roughly assumed their current economic positions.

**~~Albion~~** · 06-30-2011, 12:24 PM

I'm not going to compile figures the the continents as a whole, but basically it's a tale of Asia and Europe jostling for the top position with both achieving it at different times and with North America making an appearance at the top recently, before being replaced again by Europe (by around a $2 trillion dollar margin if I remember right - about the size of the British or French economy).

**~~Albion~~** · 06-30-2011, 02:44 PM

Below is the prediction for the top 15 countries by GDP (PPP) in the world by 2016. It is derived from this source and remember that this is only predictions, anything could happen between then and now - but this is the likely scenario.

China
USA
India (EU would be above it if it were counted)
Japan
Germany
Russia
Brazil
United Kingdom
France
Mexico
Italy
South Korea
Canada
Indonesia
Spain

Some explanations:

European nations will most likely be overtaken by many of the larger nations of the world, mostly the BRIC nations. This isn't because of European flaws, rather it is due to the size of these larger countries in their labour force and resources as well as territory.
For small nations and still staying so high up the list I actually think is a very good achievment for these European nations. To be up there with such larger countries and competing well with them is quite amazing really and shows how well the small nations of Europe work.
If European nations were larger then they would far overshadow any of the larger nations which will most likely surpass them.
The United Kingdom is likely to revert back to 8th or 9th place in the world, the traditional place it has ocupied throughout it's history as shown above. That is good for a country of such small size, especially when much larger countries such as Mexico and Indonesia lag behind it here.
This is mostly based around projections based on current growth rates. As mentioned, anything could happen.
People predicted Argentina's rise decades ago, it failed and that highlights that things don't always work out as predicted.

**joe blowe** · 07-01-2011, 05:04 PM

Places like India, China, Brasil and Mexico carry huge populations of general lower IQ. As these populations think of themselves as more 'entitled', they will drag down the wealth of these countries.

Country size or population numbers matter less than culture or general IQ.

The measurement of GDP has changed over time to include a lot that really does not contribute to wealth creation.

**~~Albion~~** · 07-01-2011, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by joe blowe

Places like India, China, Brasil and Mexico carry huge populations of general lower IQ. As these populations think of themselves as more 'entitled', they will drag down the wealth of these countries.

Country size or population numbers matter less than culture or general IQ.

The measurement of GDP has changed over time to include a lot that really does not contribute to wealth creation.

My own personally theory is that it may be because these areas had large populations of lower-intelligence people that they were able to be better dominated by the educated members of society.

Whilst very dumb people can inhibit their nation, people with a closer to average IQ - but still quite dim-witted could actually serve as a large manual labour force.