The world’s wealthiest countries may surprise you.
Some nations reach wealth because they’re sitting on impressive amounts of mineral resources, others because they have invested heavily in industry and technology, and others because they are touristic havens generating impressive revenues each year. Whatever the reason that boosts these countries’ economies, one of the most objective indicators we can use in ranking the world’s wealthiest nations is GDP (gross domestic product).
GDP represents the market value of all official final services and products within a country in a specific time frame. The GDP per capita, on the other hand, is an estimate based on population size and it represents an indicator used to rank the standard of living within a nation, rather than the entire wealth of the country. With this being said, we have compiled a list of the world’s 20 wealthiest countries in 2013, ranking them according to GDP. We have also included the increase in GDP compared with figures for 2008, to see how these nations have improved over the last 5 years. The data used for the countdown was taken from figures released by the International Monetary Fund (April 2013 statistics).
Although the US is currently the undisputed leader, with a GDP of $16.238 trillion, its growth rate in comparison to the 2008 GDP (%13.6) is less than one third that of the second wealthiest country, China, with a mind-blowing increase of 65.8%.
Apart from the US and China, highlights also include Taiwan, the United Kingdom, India, and Germany. Let’s take a look at the countdown, in a style similar to our coverage of the most dangerous places in the world.
Continue reading for the world’s wealthiest countries:
No. 20: Taiwan
GDP ($): 945.5 billion
Increase from 2008 (%): 27.4
No. 19: Saudi Arabia
GDP ($): 962.1 billion
Increase from 2008 (%): 42.9
No. 18: Iran
GDP ($): 1.003 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 18.7
No. 17: Australia
GDP ($): 1.016 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 22.8
No. 16: Turkey
GDP ($): 1.181 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 29.2
No. 15: Indonesia
GDP ($): 1.315 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 44.4%
No. 14: Spain
GDP ($): 1.412 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 1
No. 13: Canada
Public Domain Image: Public Domain
GDP ($): 1.535 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 14.8
No. 12: South Korea
GDP ($): 1.687 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 25.3%
No. 11: Italy
GDP ($):1.848 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 19.4%
No. 10: Mexico
GDP ($):1.848 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%):19.4%
No. 9: France
GDP ($): 2.290 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 7.5
No. 8: United Kingdom
GDP ($): 2.391 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 7.5%
No. 7: Brazil
GDP ($): 2.467 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 23.6%
No. 6: Russia
GDP ($): 2.641
Increase from 2008 (%): 16
No. 5: Germany
GDP ($): 3.270 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%):11.6
No. 4: Japan
GDP ($): 4.779 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 10
No. 3: India
GDP ($): 5.032 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 49.4
No. 2: China
GDP ($):13.623 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 65.8%
No. 1: USA
GDP ($): 16.238 trillion
Increase from 2008 (%): 13.6
