The roughly 11 countries in BRICS, an economic coalition created to counter the G7, collectively hold about 40% of global gross domestic product when adjusted for purchasing power parity.

The BRICS development bank was created as an alternative to Western-led institutions

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa founded the New Development Bank in 2015, clearly positioning it as a counterbalance to the World Bank and IMF—and a way for middle powers to influence global economic governance.

A list of the world's top 25 economies by GDP

Gross domestic product estimates the value of goods and services produced in a country, typically through the expenditure method, which adds up spending by consumers, investors and governments with the value of exports. The top five economies are the US, China, Germany, Japan and India.

See a breakdown of how each country contributes to the world's $126T economy.

Ranking the world’s economies: 1980 vs. 2025

The US remains the world’s largest economy, having increased its annual gross domestic product from $2.9T in 1980 to $30.6T in 2025. In 1980, China ranked seventh globally with a GDP of $304B. In 2025, China ranked second with a GDP of $19.4T.

The world's top agriculture-producing countries

Agriculture is one of the most important industries in the global economy, and while every country produces some of its own food, some countries dominate the markets. The US, Brazil, and the Netherlands are the world's top three agriculture exporters. See more charts and statistics on the topic with this Investopedia article.

The G20 emerged from the 1997 Asian financial crisis as a forum for managing the global economy

Established in 1999 and elevated to a leaders' summit during the 2008 financial crisis, the G20 now unites the world's largest economies to address issues that the Bretton Woods institutions were not designed to manage.

Visual Capitalist shows the top 50 countries by central bank reserves

As of 2024, China, Japan, and the United States held the top three spots in terms of the value of their respective central bank reserves.

Visualizing the world's wealth in 2019

The world has a net worth of $360T. The U.S. economy continues to dominate given its sheer size, Asia and Europe are not that far behind.

View the countries with the most internet users, including 94% of those in high-income nations

As of 2025, the four most populous nations—China, India, the US, and Indonesia—are also the ones with the most internet users, collectively accounting for almost half of the 6.04 billion internet users worldwide. This suggests that population size, rather than adoption rate, is a better predictor of online activity.

Critics argue that the World Bank, IMF, and WTO were designed to serve Western interests

Some analysts from developing nations argue that the Bretton Woods institutions were designed to reinforce Western economic dominance rather than to promote fair development for poorer countries. Supporters respond that these institutions have improved living standards worldwide.

Hardline China critics in the US worry that China's Belt and Road Initiative is a Trojan horse for military expansion efforts

The Belt and Road Initiative, initially launched in 2013 to develop trade routes throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, has evolved into a larger infrastructure development initiative in developing countries. The BRI is backed by the Silk Road Fund, which is administered by the two most prominent Chinese sovereign wealth funds.

Explore 'The Big Mac Index,' an economic indicator created by The Economist as a cheeky reference for the purchasing power of consumers across different countries.

At $159K, Luxembourg has the world's highest GDP per capita (also known as GDP per person) as of June 2026.

The number of billionaires in Saudi Arabia is projected to increase by 183% by 2031

Countries in the Middle East and Asia are projected to have some of the largest economic expansions by 2031, including within their billionaire populations. The global average growth projection for billionaires is 26% between 2026 and 2031.

As of 2022, Canada has the most planned critical mineral mines

Wealthy nations are tapping into their domestic critical mineral reserves and buying up mines in poorer countries. The US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and China are taking the lead, with Chinese operations spanning all continents except Antarctica.

The global economy runs on US dollars, with nearly 90% of international trade in 2019 being processed in US dollars.

American billionaires' wealth, visualized

America's top 20 billionaires have a combined wealth of $2.7T as of 2024. That's more than Russia's annual GDP. But some billionaires, like Elon Musk, hold a greater share of that $2.7T number than others. To see just how much money each of these 20 billionaires have in comparison to the others in the group, check out this data visualization.

In 2024, Black Friday was observed in 129 countries

Brazilians adopted Black Friday in 2010. Today, 60% of Brazilians participate in the shopping event. Large corporations offering Black Friday sales in the US (like Amazon, for instance) began offering similar deals in places like the UK, spreading the holiday internationally.

In 2016 OPEC and 10 major producers—including Russia—launched OPEC+

OPEC+ emerged in 2016 when 10 additional producers, including Russia, joined to stabilize markets amid U.S. shale growth. In 2022, OPEC alone supplied 38 % of global crude oil, but combined with OPEC+, output reached nearly 59 % of world production—significantly amplifying its market power.

Much of the Global South responded to the Russia-Ukraine war by pursuing a strategy of 'active nonalignment'

Boston University scholar Jorge Heine suggests that countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America are avoiding taking sides between Washington and Beijing—viewing the rules-based order as increasingly unresponsive to the needs of developing nations and considering the West's framing of the war irrelevant to its own interests.

Hear Ray Dalio talk about the growth of the Chinese economy

Dalio was an early advocate of US investment in China. While he has previously criticized the authoritarian regime, his criticism of the government has been labeled mild relative to his praise for economic growth and innovation—critics argue that he has minimized human rights violations in the country.

China operates multiple different sovereign wealth funds, primarily backed by profits from a trade surplus

Unlike other countries that primarily use profits from natural resources, China's sovereign wealth funds are fueled by the country's mounting trade surplus. Among the two largest are the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) fund and the Chinese Investment Corporation (CIC). China also operates the Silk Road Fund, a strategic investment initiative that backs infrastructure creation in developing countries.

See a breakdown of how some of the most common food items are traded across the globe, including the key trade relationships for each item.

See comparisons of different countries' taxation strategies

Taxes are a major revenue source for most countries, and how each government taxes citizens often reflects the country's economy. Developed countries tax at much higher rates than developing ones, and as a country grows its GDP, it also typically grows the proportional percentage of taxes it gains from its citizens.

Britain extracted nearly $45T from India during colonial rule

Between 1765 and 1938, Britain drained an estimated $45T in today’s dollars from India through taxes, resource extraction, and coerced trade—wealth that helped Britain’s economic rise while contributing to widespread poverty in the colony.

In the wake of the Great Depression, a Russian-American economist named Simon Kuznets popularized the formula for gross domestic product to summarize the health of the economy and provide the American government with a metric to track growth.

Despite being one of the world's richest nations, Switzerland has the highest household debt of any country in the world, totaling 125% of its GDP.

US state economies compared to entire countries

This map compares US state economies by their gross domestic product to that of a similarly sized country. For instance, California has the largest state economy in the US, with a GDP nearly equal to that of India, the fifth-largest economy in the world. Click here to see how the rest of the states compare.

A Tiger economy typically describes a booming Southeast Asian country

The term “tiger economy” has been used over the last several decades to describe a developing country experiencing rapid economic growth, often due to developing export-oriented industries and/or financial markets. The term was originally applied to Southeast Asian economies, including South Korea’s, and has since been used to describe Ireland, the Baltics, and Dubai.

OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) has grown from five to 12 members since 1960.

How key commodities have performed since 2019, visualized

Due in part to factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain issues, commodities experienced significant volatility from 2019 to 2025. For instance, coffee bean prices saw major swings in recent years due to climate challenges in countries including Brazil and Vietnam.

Young Brazilians protested their country's hosting of the 2014 World Cup

In 2013, the Confederations Cup in Brazil was marked with widespread protests in a period dubbed "Generation June." Many were angry about the looming 2014 World Cup, which they believed was an affront to the country's many pressing issues.

As of 2024, China is the largest overall contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions

Due to its large population, the nation's per capita emissions continue to lag behind those of the US, Canada, Russia, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. The Arab country has experienced the most significant increase in per capita greenhouse gas emissions since 1990, now leading the world at 22.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per capita.

China is the world’s largest importer of crude oil

China is pushing to reduce its reliance on US oil to limit geopolitical vulnerabilities. It’s rapidly becoming the world’s renewable energy superpower.

See a breakdown of every state's portion of the entire US gross domestic product.

The World Bank, IMF, and WTO all face calls for structural reform

Researchers argue that all three major institutions face legitimacy and effectiveness challenges, including outdated governance structures, unequal voting power, and difficulty adapting to a more multipolar world.

There are three different ways to calculate gross domestic product: the expenditure approach, the value-added approach, and the income approach.

Wealthy, 'chaebol' families rule South Korea's economy

A handful of huge family-run conglomerates, or chaebol, are the engines of South Korea’s economy, with Samsung alone representing 20% of the country’s GDP. This gives the chaebol (literally “wealth group”) outsized power, often leading to corruption, labor violations, and anticompetitive practices. One economist interviewed in this Vice documentary says the chaebol have replaced Korean democracy with corporatocracy.

Brazil is leading a cheese revolution and challenging European dominance in the industry

Brazil has plenty of traditional dishes that rely on cheese, but it’s only in the last decade that the country has emerged as a powerhouse in artisanal cheesemaking. While the cheeses may be inspired by European traditions, options like cocoa-dusted goat cheese or an Amazonian buffalo cheese are pure South American.

Eight demographic trends to watch

This list highlights eight demographic trends expected to shape the world in the coming decades. The world’s population is projected to hit 9 billion in 2037. In that time, India will overtake China in population, and the Democratic Republic of...

Explore a breakdown of the US gross domestic product, including GDP's growth over time, the GDP of individual states, and which industries contribute the most to US GDP.

China is now viewed more favorably than the US in a majority of 36 countries surveyed this year.

Track how American tariffs have impacted different countries and industries.

Gross domestic product only accounts for consumer spending, investments, government spending, and net exports—meaning factors such as stock market performance, Social Security payments, household labor, and the value of environmental damage largely aren't represented.

As of 2024, the nation with the largest proven oil reserves is Venezuela

According to estimates derived from available geological and engineering data, the South American country possesses about 303 billion barrels of underground crude oil, followed by Saudi Arabia (267.2 billion) and Iran (208.6 billion). Many of the largest reserves are held by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The 1997 Asian financial crisis tested the limits of the rules-based order's financial architecture

When a currency crisis hit Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea, the IMF allocated $118B in emergency loans. However, the attached conditions were widely criticized for worsening the economic downturn and increasing distrust of Western-led institutions across the Global South.

The money behind Eurovision

Countries pay to take part in Eurovision, with the biggest economies—Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain, also known as the Big Five—paying the most. That unequal entry fee is not entirely for charity's sake: The Big Five countries are guaranteed spots in Eurovision's finals.

Some experts argue that Russia was never effectively integrated into the rules-based order after 1991

This piece argues that Russia's difficult relationship with the IMF and World Bank in the 1990s—characterized by economic shocks and perceived Western condescension—helped shape Moscow's later hostility toward the liberal order.

About 10% of the world's crude oil and 32% of its natural gas is reached via fracking

Most of the world's shale oil resources—which are recoverable via fracking—are found in Russia, the US, China, Argentina, and Libya. The majority of equivalent shale gas resources are found in China, Argentina, Algeria, the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Critical mineral production may lift impoverished regions out of poverty

Mineral wealth can provide public revenue and economic livelihoods to those in mining regions. However, poor management and lack of oversight can cause human rights abuses, environmental degradation, and significant greenhouse gas emissions.