The Importance of Economic Growth – from a Geographical Perspective

Would you want to trade places with the average resident of most African countries?
Why not? Your answer probably has something to do with standard of living.
One measure of standard of living is gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is the total value of all final goods and services produced in a country during a given period. The following table ranks the countries of the world by GDP using the data available from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in May 2009.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT in 2008 (Purchasing Power Parity)
RANK	COUNTRY	GDP (PPP)
1	World	$69,490,000,000,000
2	European Union	$14,820,000,000,000
3	United States	$14,290,000,000,000
4	China	$7,800,000,000,000
5	Japan	$4,348,000,000,000
6	India	$3,267,000,000,000
7	Germany	$2,863,000,000,000
8	United Kingdom	$2,231,000,000,000
9	Russia	$2,225,000,000,000
10	France	$2,097,000,000,000
11	Brazil	$1,990,000,000,000
12	Italy	$1,821,000,000,000
13	Mexico	$1,559,000,000,000
14	Spain	$1,378,000,000,000
15	Canada	$1,307,000,000,000
16	Korea, South	$1,278,000,000,000
17	Indonesia	$915,900,000,000
18	Turkey	$906,500,000,000
19	Iran	$842,000,000,000
20	Australia	$800,500,000,000
21	Taiwan	$738,800,000,000
22	Netherlands	$670,200,000,000
23	Poland	$667,400,000,000
24	Saudi Arabia	$582,800,000,000
25	Argentina	$575,600,000,000
26	Thailand	$553,400,000,000
27	South Africa	$489,700,000,000
28	Pakistan	$452,700,000,000
29	Egypt	$442,600,000,000
30	Colombia	$399,400,000,000
31	Belgium	$390,500,000,000
32	Malaysia	$386,600,000,000
33	Venezuela	$357,900,000,000
34	Sweden	$348,600,000,000
35	Greece	$343,600,000,000
36	Nigeria	$338,100,000,000
37	Ukraine	$337,000,000,000
38	Austria	$325,000,000,000
39	Philippines	$320,600,000,000
40	Switzerland	$309,900,000,000
41	Hong Kong	$307,600,000,000
42	Romania	$271,200,000,000
43	Czech Republic	$266,300,000,000
44	Norway	$256,500,000,000
45	Chile	$245,300,000,000
46	Vietnam	$241,800,000,000
47	Singapore	$240,000,000,000
48	Peru	$238,900,000,000
49	Portugal	$237,300,000,000
50	Algeria	$235,500,000,000
51	Bangladesh	$224,000,000,000
52	Hungary	$205,700,000,000
53	Denmark	$204,900,000,000
54	Israel	$200,700,000,000
55	Finland	$195,200,000,000
56	Ireland	$191,900,000,000
57	United Arab Emirates	$184,600,000,000
58	Kazakhstan	$176,900,000,000
59	Kuwait	$149,100,000,000
60	Morocco	$137,300,000,000
61	Slovakia	$119,500,000,000
62	New Zealand	$116,600,000,000
63	Belarus	$114,100,000,000
64	Iraq	$112,800,000,000
65	Angola	$110,300,000,000
66	Cuba	$108,200,000,000
67	Ecuador	$107,100,000,000
68	Syria	$95,360,000,000
69	Bulgaria	$93,780,000,000
70	Sri Lanka	$91,900,000,000
71	Libya	$88,860,000,000
72	Sudan	$87,270,000,000
73	Qatar	$85,350,000,000
74	Tunisia	$81,880,000,000
75	Serbia	$80,740,000,000
76	Dominican Republic	$77,430,000,000
77	Azerbaijan	$73,650,000,000
78	Croatia	$73,360,000,000
79	Uzbekistan	$71,630,000,000
80	Puerto Rico	$70,590,000,000
81	Guatemala	$68,020,000,000
82	Oman	$67,000,000,000
83	Ethiopia	$66,290,000,000
84	Lithuania	$63,250,000,000
85	Kenya	$61,830,000,000
86	Slovenia	$59,140,000,000
87	Yemen	$55,290,000,000
88	Burma	$55,040,000,000
89	Tanzania	$54,260,000,000
90	Costa Rica	$48,480,000,000
91	Lebanon	$44,070,000,000
92	El Salvador	$43,940,000,000
93	Bolivia	$43,080,000,000
94	Cameroon	$42,760,000,000
95	Uruguay	$42,460,000,000
96	Korea, North	$40,000,000,000
97	Luxembourg	$39,420,000,000
98	Latvia	$38,980,000,000
99	Panama	$38,490,000,000
100	Uganda	$35,880,000,000
101	Ghana	$34,040,000,000
102	Cote d'Ivoire	$34,000,000,000
103	Honduras	$33,630,000,000
104	Nepal	$31,090,000,000
105	Jordan	$30,760,000,000
106	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$29,900,000,000
107	Turkmenistan	$29,650,000,000
108	Paraguay	$28,710,000,000
109	Cambodia	$27,950,000,000
110	Estonia	$27,720,000,000
111	Bahrain	$26,700,000,000
112	Botswana	$26,040,000,000
113	Trinidad and Tobago	$24,190,000,000
114	Afghanistan	$23,030,000,000
115	Cyprus	$22,690,000,000
116	Senegal	$21,900,000,000
117	Albania	$21,820,000,000
118	Georgia	$21,600,000,000
119	Gabon	$21,440,000,000
120	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	$21,050,000,000
121	Jamaica	$20,880,000,000
122	Madagascar	$20,760,000,000
123	Brunei	$20,250,000,000
124	Equatorial Guinea	$19,370,000,000
125	Mozambique	$18,950,000,000
126	Armenia	$18,920,000,000
127	Macedonia	$18,520,000,000
128	Macau	$18,140,000,000
129	Burkina Faso	$17,820,000,000
130	Zambia	$17,390,000,000
131	Nicaragua	$16,830,000,000
132	Chad	$16,260,000,000
133	Congo, Republic of the	$15,600,000,000
134	Tajikistan	$15,400,000,000
135	Mauritius	$15,360,000,000
136	Mali	$14,480,000,000
137	Laos	$13,990,000,000
138	Papua New Guinea	$13,290,000,000
139	Benin	$12,840,000,000
140	Iceland	$12,150,000,000
141	Gaza Strip	$11,950,000,000
142	West Bank	$11,950,000,000
143	Haiti	$11,590,000,000
144	Malawi	$11,560,000,000
145	Kyrgyzstan	$11,410,000,000
146	Namibia	$11,230,000,000
147	Moldova	$10,630,000,000
148	Guinea	$10,440,000,000
149	Malta	$9,801,000,000
150	Niger	$9,784,000,000
151	Mongolia	$9,557,000,000
152	Rwanda	$9,061,000,000
153	Bahamas, The	$8,779,000,000
154	Montenegro	$6,600,000,000
155	Mauritania	$6,310,000,000
156	Swaziland	$5,703,000,000
157	Somalia	$5,524,000,000
158	Barbados	$5,466,000,000
159	Togo	$5,105,000,000
160	Jersey	$5,100,000,000
161	Kosovo	$5,000,000,000
162	French Polynesia	$4,718,000,000
163	Bermuda	$4,500,000,000
164	Sierra Leone	$4,307,000,000
165	Suriname	$4,256,000,000
166	Liechtenstein	$4,160,000,000
167	Eritrea	$3,946,000,000
168	Bhutan	$3,789,000,000
169	Andorra	$3,660,000,000
170	Fiji	$3,616,000,000
171	Lesotho	$3,370,000,000
172	Central African Republic	$3,239,000,000
173	New Caledonia	$3,158,000,000
174	Burundi	$3,103,000,000
175	Guyana	$3,010,000,000
176	Netherlands Antilles	$2,800,000,000
177	Guernsey	$2,742,000,000
178	Isle of Man	$2,719,000,000
179	Timor-Leste	$2,713,000,000
180	Belize	$2,577,000,000
181	Guam	$2,500,000,000
182	Gambia, The	$2,264,000,000
183	Aruba	$2,258,000,000
184	Zimbabwe	$1,959,000,000
185	Cayman Islands	$1,939,000,000
186	Djibouti	$1,889,000,000
187	Saint Lucia	$1,801,000,000
188	Maldives	$1,738,000,000
189	San Marino	$1,662,000,000
190	Cape Verde	$1,635,000,000
191	Antigua and Barbuda	$1,610,000,000
192	Virgin Islands	$1,577,000,000
193	Liberia	$1,532,000,000
194	Seychelles	$1,473,000,000
195	Grenada	$1,211,000,000
196	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	$1,103,000,000
197	Greenland	$1,100,000,000
198	Solomon Islands	$1,078,000,000
199	Gibraltar	$1,066,000,000
200	Samoa	$1,057,000,000
201	Faroe Islands	$1,000,000,000
202	Vanuatu	$983,200,000
203	Monaco	$976,300,000
204	Mayotte	$953,600,000
205	Northern Mariana Islands	$900,000,000
206	Western Sahara	$900,000,000
207	Guinea-Bissau	$857,000,000
208	British Virgin Islands	$853,400,000
209	Saint Kitts and Nevis	$784,900,000
210	Comoros	$741,400,000
211	Dominica	$719,800,000
212	American Samoa	$575,300,000
213	Tonga	$549,100,000
214	Kiribati	$357,400,000
215	Sao Tome and Principe	$276,600,000
216	Micronesia, Federated States of	$238,100,000
217	Turks and Caicos Islands	$216,000,000
218	Cook Islands	$183,200,000
219	Palau	$164,000,000
220	Marshall Islands	$133,500,000
221	Anguilla	$108,900,000
222	Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)	$105,100,000
223	Nauru	$60,000,000
224	Wallis and Futuna	$60,000,000
225	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	$48,300,000
226	Montserrat	$29,000,000
227	Saint Helena	$18,000,000
228	Tuvalu	$14,940,000
229	Niue	$10,010,000
230	Tokelau	$1,500,000

Source: CIA World Factbook, 2008. These calculations were made using the purchasing power parity (PPP) technique. This is designed to make the numbers more comparable by adjusting for differences in the cost of products in different countries.

A note in The World Factbook provides a more detailed explanation:

This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A nation's GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States. This is the measure most economists prefer when looking at per-capita welfare and when comparing living conditions or use of resources across countries. The measure is difficult to compute, as a US dollar value has to be assigned to all goods and services in the country regardless of whether these goods and services have a direct equivalent in the United States (for example, the value of an ox-cart or non-US military equipment); as a result, PPP estimates for some countries are based on a small and sometimes different set of goods and services. In addition, many countries do not formally participate in the World Bank's PPP project that calculates these measures, so the resulting GDP estimates for these countries may lack precision. For many developing countries, PPP-based GDP measures are multiples of the official exchange rate (OER) measure. The differences between the OER- and PPP-denominated GDP values for most of the wealthy industrialized countries are generally much smaller.

Economic Growth - Topics