World GDP, also known as world gross domestic product or GWP - gross world product, calculated on a nominal basis, was estimated at $65.61 trillion in 2007 by the CIA World Factbook. While the US is the largest economy, growth in world GDP of 5.2% was led by China (11.4%), India (9.2%) and Russia (8.1%).
Throughout the twentieth century the United States of America has dominated world gross domestic product, or World GDP.
In 2007, according to the International Monetary Fund, the US GDP was $13.8 trillion. Since rising from the ashes of World War II, Japan has become the second largest world economy, with a GDP of $4.4 trillion.
Germany is Europe’s largest economy and the third largest in the world, with an annual gross domestic product of $3.2 trillion.
China is close behind Germany at $3.2 trillion, and due to overtake it soon. If current growth rates continue, China will become the largest economy in the world somewhere between 2025 and 2030. The United States will be pushed down to second spot. At that time, three out of the four largest economies in the world will be Asian – China, India and Japan.
The United Kingdom and France are currently at fifth and sixth spots respectively. UK GDP for 2007 was $2.8 trillion and for France the amount stood at $2.6 trillion.
European countries round out the next two spots in the GDP list. Italy is seventh with a GDP amount of $2.1 trillion and Spain is at eighth with $1.4 trillion. Five out of ten top world economies are European.
Canada and Brazil are also in the Top 10 World GDP List: Canada with GDP of $1.4 trillion and Brazil with $1.3 trillion.
Just outside the top 10, Russia has made significant economic progress in the recent years after the Soviet Union was divided into several countries. In 2007, Russian GDP stood at $1.3 trillion. India is close behind at $1.1 trillion.
South Korea is staking its claim to importance by becoming the world’s 12th biggest economy, and the fourth biggest in Asia, with a GDP just under $1 trillion.
Australia has been booming off the back of an extended run up in the prices of commodities, and is now the world’s 13th biggest economy with a GDP of $908 billion.
Boosted by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico has been powering forward with its GDP reach $893 billion. The gross domestic product of the Netherlands in 2007 was $769 billion and Turkey stood at $663 billion.
Note: If you would like to understand GDP on a Purchasing Power Parity basis, please read our article on
the world's largest economies.
Country Wise GDP and GNI Per-Capita
Select a country in the following table and find the GDP and GNI Per Capita of the respective country: