China and not the United States is viewed as the world's foremost economic power by Europeans, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. Back in 2008, before the financial crisis, a European median of 44 percent considered the United States the leading economic powerhouse worldwide. In that year, 29 percent considered China the world's leader.
China raced into the lead for the first time in 2010, and today, it's viewed as the foremost economic power by 49 percent of Europeans compared to 34 percent for the United States. Interestingly, the shift in perception concerns America's premier European allies - France Germany, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Gross domestic product is a commonly-used economic indicator for measuring the state of a country’s economy. GDP is the total market value of goods and services produced in a country within a given period of time, usually a year. Per capita GDP is defined as the GDP divided by the total number of people in the country. This indicator is generally used to compare the economic prosperity of countries with varying population sizes.
In 2010, China overtook Japan and became the world’s second-largest economy. As of 2012, it was the largest exporter and the second largest importer in the world. However, one reason behind its economic strength lies within its population size. China has to distribute its wealth among over 1.3 billion people. By 2014, China’s per capita GDP was only about one seventh as large as that of main industrialized countries. When compared to other emerging markets, China ranked third among BRIC countries in terms of GDP per capita, followed only by India.
According to projections by the IMF, per capita GDP in China will escalate from around 3,740 U.S. dollars in 2009 to 10,586 U.S. dollars in 2019. Possible reasons for this are the soaring economy and low population growth. China’s economic structure is also undergoing changes. A major trend lies in the shift from an industry-based to a service-based economy.
Based on data on 2012-2013 : This statistic shows the quarterly growth of the real gross domestic product (GDP) in China from the third quarter of 2012 to the third quarter of 2014. In the first quarter of 2014, the growth of the real GDP in China ranged at 7.4 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. GDP refers to the total market value of all goods and services that are produced within a country per year. It is an important indicator of the economic strength of a country. Real GDP is adjusted for price changes and is therefore regarded as a key indicator for economic growth
In 2013, China ranged among the top three countries with the largest gross domestic product worldwide. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, the country has experienced rapid social and economic development. In 2013, it became the world’s largest trading nation, overtaking the United States. However, per capita GDP in China was still much lower than that of industrialized countries.
The annual growth rate of China’s GDPhad constantly been above nine percent until 2011. According to projections of the IMF, the annual GDP growth will slow down further until 2019. Rising domestic wages and the competitive edge of other Asian and African countries are seen as main reasons for the stuttering in China’s economic engine. One strategy of the Chinese government to overcome this transition is a gradual shift of economic focus from industrial production to services.
Another major challenge lies in the massive environmental pollution that China’s reckless economic growth has caused over the past decades. China’s development has been powered mostly by coal consumption, which resulted in high air pollution. To counteract industrial pollution, further investments in waste management and clean technologies are necessary. In 2012, only 1.59 percent of GDP was spent on pollution control. Surging environmental costs aside, environmental issues could also be a key to industrial transition as China placed major investments in renewable energy and clean tech projects. The consumption of green energy skyrocketed from 0.8 million metric tons of oil equivalent in 2003 to 42.9 million in 2013.
Source :
1. http://www.statista.com/
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