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China

Updated: July 2026

Key Insights
  • China: The biggest economy, approximately 54% larger than the USA
    China is the biggest economy in the world, estimated to be some 54% larger than the GDP of the USA in 2025, when calculated using Purchasing Power Parity data from the World Bank (with growth estimates from the IMF), and including estimates of the undervaluation of GDP due to an outdated base year, plus estimates of China's significant informal economy.

  • China growth v US growth
    Over the past decade China has contributed 30% to global growth, compared with the USA's contribution of 10%. Compound Annual Growth over the last 3 years has been 5.1%, around double the USA rate of 2.6%. Few predict China's growth differential in relation to the USA will disappear in the near future.

  • Some reasons why China's GDP is likely to continue growing faster in the medium term than the USA
    China's GDP growth record is extraordinary; its education system is extraordinary (it graduates 1.4m engineers a year and over 20% of the world's bachelor degrees); it is far ahead of all countries in patent applications; it has a vast and highly skilled workforce focussed on the most tech intensive industries; and suggestions that China will get old before it gets rich due to the ending of its "demographic dividend" have been debunked by a recent paper pointing out that demographic changes have not been a critical driver of increases in GDP per Capita. There is more, not least that Asia as a whole is by far the biggest and fastest growing part of the world economy.

  • China's GDP per capita is likely to keep growing
    South Korea, and Taiwan have achieved GDP per head of around 80% of the US level, starting from very close to poverty. If China can raise GDP per head to just 50%+ of US levels (hardly an impossible task given its record over the last 40 years), it will have a GDP twice that of the US. If China's GDP per capita gets anywhere near those achieved in South Korea, its economy will approach three times the size of the US.

  • What might alter this perspective
    Any number of factors might derail China's growth, even in the short term, including war over Taiwan, mismanagement of the Chinese economy linked to its poor Governance rating, and further attempts by America to reduce trading links with China. A rapid decline in fertility rates will impact China’s future demographics. Recent studies have shown that sperm counts are declining worldwide, and this seems a fundamental factor in this fall in rates. China’s fertility levels are currently at 1%, which is half the necessary replacement rate. This means that each coming generation will be approximately half as large as the one before it. Long-term, one projection sees China’s population decline by a staggering 48% by the end of this century. But seismic events aside, given the giant size of its home market, (not to mention its role as workshop to the world), its attractiveness to companies like Apple, LMVH, and Volkswagen (all very dependent on Chinese markets) is unlikely to disappear in the near future.

  • NOTE: Chinese GDP data quality is rated C grade by World Economics, and so is usable with caution. Population data is rated B grade.
    Chinese GDP and Population data are usable as guides to Chinese economic activity and per capita activity, respectively. The main current problems are that data showing unfavourable movements in economic activity has from time to time been suppressed or published later than expected, and some data is out of date or understated.

QUICK LINKS
Economics:   
GDP DATA QUALITY   /   GDP SIZE   /   GDP GROWTH   /   WEALTH   /   INEQUALITY   /   DEBT
Demographics:   
DATA QUALITY    /    POPULATION PROFILE

E.S.G.:   
ENVIRONMENTAL    /    SOCIAL    /    GOVERNANCE

 
ECONOMICS
DEMOGRAPHICS
E.S.G.
Economics sections:    GDP DATA QUALITY   /   GDP SIZE   /   GDP GROWTH   /   WEALTH   /   INEQUALITY   /   DEBT

 
GDP DATA QUALITY

Data Quality Ratings are derived from scores in five areas: Base year recency; System of National Accounts framework version; Informal economy size; Statistical resources available; and likelihood of Government interference. Scores are based on a 0-100 scale. Read more...


GDP Data Quality Ratings
Index: 0 = Extremely poor quality, 100 = Good as it gets
Ranked by Data Quality Index
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Country
 Rank
Order		 World Economics
Data Quality
(Index, 0-100)		 World Economics
Data Quality
(Rating, A-E)		 Base
Year
Chained/Year		 SNA
Framework
Version		 Informal
Economy
% of GDP		 Statistical
Resources
Index (0-100)		 Governance
Levels
Index (0-100)





Rwanda 84 68.4 C 2017 2008 29.5 60.0 41.7
Trinidad and Tobago 85 68.4 C 2012 2008 25.4 51.9 60.1
Algeria 86 68.3 C Chained 2008 27.9 41.4 29.1
Ecuador 87 68.3 C 2018 2008 32.5 63.0 39.3
Guatemala 88 68.3 C Chained 2008 43.7 64.4 31.1
Indonesia 89 68.3 C 2010 2008 23.7 71.8 45.1
Senegal 90 68.3 C 2014 2008 35.9 67.0 54.2
South Africa 91 68.1 C 2015 2008 24.4 33.6 63.6
China 92 68.0 C 2020 2008 12.1 41.0 21.7
Albania 93 67.4 C Chained 1993 29.8 69.8 50.9
Benin 94 67.1 C Chained 2008 49.1 53.9 42.4
Malawi 95 66.9 C 2017 2008 34.0 48.9 51.9
Kuwait 96 66.6 C 2010 2008 15.4 57.3 39.0
Azerbaijan 97 66.2 C Chained 2008 42.0 64.2 18.3
Cote d'Ivoire 98 65.9 C 2015 2008 35.3 57.0 46.8
Panama 99 65.8 C Chained 1993 40.0 74.4 53.7
Bangladesh 100 65.6 C 2016 2008 28.3 61.5 28.6

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Data Notes
Data Quality Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
         0 = Poor, 100 = Excellent.

Rating definitions:
         A: As good as it gets
         B: Good
         C: Use with caution
         D: Poor
         E: Extremely poor quality

The index calculations and displayed data are derived from the most current and up-to-date source data available.
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GDP SIZE

GDP Size data is shown in Purchasing Power Parity terms with added estimates for the size of the informal economy and adjustments for out-of-date GDP base year data. Read more...


Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Ranked by GDP: 2025
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Country Rank
Order		 World Economics
Data Quality
(Rating, A-E)		 2025
Estimate
Billions, PPP Int$		 2030
Estimate
Billions, PPP Int$		 Share of
Global GDP
%, 2025




China 1 C $42,192 $52,124 19.5%
United States 2 A $27,915 $32,467 12.9%
India 3 B $19,875 $27,199 9.2%
Russia 4 C $7,702 $8,675 3.6%
Japan 5 A $6,326 $6,703 2.9%
Indonesia 6 C $6,302 $7,911 2.9%
Germany 7 A $5,731 $6,005 2.7%
Brazil 8 B $5,534 $6,432 2.6%
France 9 A $4,279 $4,785 2.0%

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Data Notes
Data Quality Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
         0 = Poor, 100 = Excellent.

Grade definitions:
         A: As good as it gets
         B: Good
         C: Use with caution
         D: Poor
         E: Extremely poor quality


GDP in Purchasing Power Parity terms with added estimates for the size of the informal economy and adjustments for out-of-date GDP base year data.

Share of Global GDP expressed as a percentage of the sum of GDP for all countries in the World Economics database.

Projections for 2030 are made by applying IMF growth rates for 2025 and 2026, with the 5-Year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) applied thereafter to extrapolate the data to 2030.
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GDP GROWTH

Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) are derived from GDP Data in Purchasing Power Parity terms with added estimates for the size of the informal economy and adjustments for out-of-date GDP base year data.


Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the last 10-years
Ranked by CAGR: 10-Year
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Country Rank
Order		 World Economics
Data Quality
(Rating, A-E)		 CAGR
10 Year
2015-2025		 CAGR
5 Year
2020-2025		 CAGR
3 Year
2022-2025		 Share of
Global Growth
Percentage




Bangladesh 7 C 6.2% 5.7% 4.8% 1.7%
Malta 8 B 6.1% 7.4% 7.1% 0.0%
Benin 9 C 6.0% 6.7% 6.8% 0.1%
Cote d'Ivoire 10 C 6.0% 6.5% 6.3% 0.3%
Vietnam 11 D 6.0% 5.8% 6.1% 1.7%
Niger 12 D 5.9% 6.4% 6.4% 0.1%
Georgia 13 C 5.8% 9.0% 7.8% 0.1%
Turkmenistan 14 D 5.8% 5.4% 5.0% 0.1%
China 15 C 5.7% 4.3% 5.1% 30.3%
Uzbekistan 16 C 5.7% 6.5% 6.2% 0.4%
Ireland 17 A 5.6% 5.0% 0.7% 0.5%
Senegal 18 C 5.6% 6.0% 6.5% 0.1%
Cambodia 19 E 5.4% 5.0% 5.6% 0.2%
Tanzania 20 C 5.4% 5.1% 5.5% 0.3%
Uganda 21 C 5.3% 5.4% 6.3% 0.2%
Cyprus 22 B 5.1% 6.0% 3.6% 0.0%
Togo 23 C 5.1% 5.9% 6.0% 0.0%

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Data Notes
Data Quality Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
         0 = Poor, 100 = Excellent.

Grade definitions:
         A: As good as it gets
         B: Good
         C: Use with caution
         D: Poor
         E: Extremely poor quality


GDP in Purchasing Power Parity terms with added estimates for the size of the informal economy and adjustments for out-of-date GDP base year data.

Share of Global GDP Growth expressed as a percentage of the sum of GDP for all countries in the World Economics database.
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WEALTH

Wealth is notoriously difficult to measure. The table below shows two measures: Income per Capita (proxied by GDP per capita) and Asset Wealth per Capita (proxied by data derived from the Credit Suisse Wealth Report). Population data is sourced from the United Nations Population Prospects database.


Income and Asset Wealth Per Capita
Indexes: 0 = Extremely poor, 100 = Good as it gets.
Data ranked by Income per Capita
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Country Income
per Capita
(2025, Int$)		 Asset Wealth
per Capita
(2024, Int$)




Mauritius $34.4K $52.3K
North Macedonia $33.9K $
Dominican Republic $32.3K $
Gabon $31.7K $8.6K
Azerbaijan $31.6K $15.1K
Thailand $31.1K $19.8K
Guyana $30.5K $
Mexico $30.2K $37.9K
China $29.9K $59.3K
Armenia $29.7K $27.4K
Botswana $28.2K $9.0K
Bosnia and Herzegovina $27.9K $27.4K
Suriname $27.7K $4.8K
Bhutan $26.7K $
Brazil $26.1K $21.4K
Egypt $25.7K $11.1K
Turkmenistan $25.1K $12.0K

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Data Notes
Income Wealth uses GDP per capita derived from World Economics GDP data for 2025 measured in PPP Int$ terms, with added estimates for the Informal economy and adjustments for Base Year age.

Asset Wealth uses the Credit Suisse Mean Net Wealth per country data converted into per capita terms using population data from the United Nations Population Prospects database.
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INEQUALITY

The Inequality Index shown below is derived from the Gini Inequality Coefficient. Gini Country data varies considerably by date. These variations are recorded in the World Economics database.

The World Economics Inequality Index ranks each country onto a scale of 0-100, a high value indicates a more egalitarian society - and a low value suggests a lot of the national income is in the hands of very few depending upon the unit of measurement. Read more...


Inequality Rankings
Index: 0-100, 0 = High Inequality; 100 = High Equality
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Country Rank
Order		 World Economics
Inequality Index
(0-100)		 World Economics
Inequality Rating
(A-E)		 Gini
Coefficient
(%)		 Gini
Data
(Year)




Kazakhstan 71 58.6 C 41.2 2019
Guinea 72 58.5 C 41.2 2019
Tunisia 73 58.2 C 41.4 2019
Nepal 74 57.9 C 41.5 2019
Argentina 75 56.7 C 42.0 2021
Tajikistan 76 56.2 C 42.2 2019
Bangladesh 77 55.8 C 42.4 2019
Nigeria 78 55.1 C 42.7 2019
China 79 54.6 C 42.9 2020
Mongolia 80 54.6 C 42.9 2019
Myanmar 81 54.6 C 42.9 2019
Paraguay 82 54.6 C 42.9 2021
Liberia 83 53.9 C 43.2 2019
Gabon 84 53.7 C 43.3 2019
Laos 85 53.6 C 43.3 2019
Libya 86 51.8 C 44.1 2019
Japan 87 51.6 C 44.2 2019

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Data Notes
The Index is on a scale of 0-100, a high value indicates a more egalitarian society - and a low value suggests a lot of the national income is in the hands of very few depending upon the unit of measurement.

Rating definitions:
         A: Very good
         B: Good
         C: Average
         D: Poor
         E: Very poor


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DEBT

The debt-to-GDP ratio is the ratio between a country's offical government debt and its gross domestic product (GDP), the later measured in Purchasing Power Parity terms with added estimates for out-of-date adjustments for out-of-date GDP base years and the size of informal economic activity.


Debt-to-GDP Ratio
Ranked by debt as a percentage of GDP
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Country Rank
Order		 Debt
% of GDP		 Debt
Billions, Int$



Greece 4 117.3% $563.93
Italy 5 117.2% $4,364.49
Bahrain 6 108.1% $141.31
France 7 105.9% $4,531.39
Canada 8 103.3% $2,690.16
Libya 9 98.3% $163.55
United Kingdom 10 96.2% $3,868.16
Belgium 11 95.8% $840.15
China 12 85.6% $36,116.54
Spain 13 84.2% $2,401.49
Sudan 14 82.2% $175.43
Finland 15 80.3% $286.61
Ukraine 16 79.2% $653.48
Austria 17 77.9% $491.25
Cabo Verde 18 77.1% $5.46
Senegal 19 76.6% $112.16
Portugal 20 75.9% $401.29

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Data Notes
GDP is presented it in Purchasing Power Parity terms with added estimates for the size of the informal economy and adjustments for out-of-date GDP base year data.

Debt-to-GDP ratio expressed in percentage terms.
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