Graph: World – Population and GDP by Country (Part 3)

This graph continues from two earlier posts. It shows the top 15 countries by GDP per capita. These are essentially the dots that are clustered in the left part of the chart in Part 1.

Data Source: World Bank

You can see that the list is dominated by small / smallish countries (e.g. Monaco, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Bermuda, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Macau, Sweden and Ireland), but there are a notable number of large ones there too (e.g. United States and Canada).

See Part1 and Part 2 here.

Data Source: World Bank; Graph: Generated by me

Graph: World – Population and GDP by Country (Part 2)

This graph is a continuation of an earlier post, showing the GDP and population by country, as well as the GDP per capita (which is the gradient of each data point). It zooms into the “2^nd tier” of countries (see the red box in the chart below).

Data Source: World Bank

This next chart zooms into the red box from the chart above.

Data Source: World Bank

Out of this 2^nd tier group highlighted, we can see 2 main groups:

a)   2^nd tier high-income group: This group consists of the next tier of rich and big European countries (France, UK, Italy, maybe Spain and Netherlands), Canada, Australia and South Korea. Their GDP per capita are all high, ranging from $20,000 to $47,000.

b)    2^nd tier middle-income group: This group consists of the next tier of large developing economies – Brazil, Russia, Mexico and Turkey. Their GDP per capita all hover around the world GDP per capita – ranging from $9,000 to $11,000. We can call this group the “BRMT” group, but I guess this acronym doesn’t sound as nice as “BRIC”.

See Part1 and Part 3 here.

Data Source: World Bank; Graph: Generated by me

Graph: World – Population and GDP by Country (Part 1)

This graph shows the GDP and population by country, as well as the GDP per capita (which is the gradient of each data point). This is similar to an earlier post on Africa. It illustrates the largest economies in the world by GDP and population.

Data Source: World Bank

Some points of note:

a)      US: The United States is still by far the largest economy in the world in terms of GDP, with a 2010 GDP of US$14.6 trillion. Its GDP per capita of $47,199 puts it at around 11^th in the world (see here).

b)      EU: The EU, if it were a country, would have a larger GDP than the US – it has a combined GDP of U$16.2 trillion. However, its GDP per capita of $32,311 is much lower than the US.

c)      China: China is now the 2^nd largest economy in the world in terms of GDP. Due to its large population, its GDP per capita (at $4,428) is around the median ($4,560).

d)      Japan and Germany: Japan and Germany are the 3^rd and 4^th largest economies in the world. 

e)      India, Indonesia and Brazil: These are highlighted here as they are economies with large populations. India and Indonesia are still relatively low in their total GDP, as well as GDP per capita, which are below the median. Brazil, on the other hand, has a GDP per capita that is above the median. These are potential next tier of fast growing countries.

See Part 2 and Part 3 here.

Data Source: World Bank; Graph: Generated by me

Graph: Africa - GDP per capita

From an earlier post, there are a number of African countries with GDP per capita higher than the mean (i.e. the countries above the mean line in the graph below) that we did not look at. 

Data Source: World Bank

Zooming into these countries, we can see which of the African countries have the highest GDP per capita.

Data Source: World Bank

The economies of many of these countries are dominated by the oil & gas industry (e.g. Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Algeria, Angola, Republic of Congo) or natural resources (e.g. Namibia). Other countries rely on tourism (e.g. Seychelles, Mauritius), while others have more diversified economies (e.g. South Africa, Tunisia, Cape Verde). Many of these are also countries that have small populations (e.g. Seychelles: 87,000; Cape Verde: 0.5m; Mauritius: 1.3m; Gabon: 1.5m) or uncertain population numbers (e.g. Equatorial Guinea: 0.7m estimated, but other estimates range up to 1.2m). 

Of course, these countries may also have high income disparities, so the poverty levels can still be quite high there.

Data Source: World Bank; Graphs: Generated by me; Country Sources: CIA – The World Factbook

Graph: Africa – Population and GDP

This graph shows the GDP and population of the African countries, as well as the GDP per capita (which is the gradient of each data point).

Data Source: World Bank

The chart might be useful in terms of thinking about which African countries are doing well economically to invest in – High GDP implies a strong economy; High Population implies a potential large domestic market; High GDP per capita implies a high spending power of the population (assuming the income gap is not too high, which may not be the case).

On these counts, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola and Morocco could be potential countries for investors to take another look at. Of course, there is the issue of corporate governance or political stability, which would be looked at in a subsequent post.

South Africa’s 2010 GDP (US$364bn) places it as the top African country with the highest GDP, but the 28^th country in the world. In terms of GDP per capita, South Africa (US$7,275) is ranked 66^th in the world. As a comparison, the 2010 GDP per capita for various countries are: US: US$47,199; France: US$39,640; Malaysia: US$8,373; China: US$4,428.

South Africa is not doing too badly on these counts.

Data Source: World Bank; Graph: Generated by me