Wealth has several definitions, but they all have in common the “abundance” factor.
It is at the same time the fact of owning goods, producing and selling a lot of them.
In the economic sense of the term, the richest country should be the one with the greatest
wealth.
However, to measure the wealth of a country, several factors can be taken into account.
Of course, the economic aspect is a major part, but other criteria more difficult to
assess, such as the happiness, health and living environment of the population, can
impact this notion of wealth.
The official indicator to calculate the economic wealth of a country is the gross domestic
product (GDP).
This corresponds to the sum of the market wealth (or not) which was produced by a country
in a given year.
In theory, the richest country in the world should therefore be the one with the highest
GDP.
However, this indicator is increasingly contested.
Indeed, GDP does not include certain major aspects of our societies, such as social inequalities
or the well-being of individuals.
This is why some prefer to determine the wealth of a country through HDI (human development
index).
Ranging from 0 to 1 (highest score), this index measures the GDP per capita, life expectancy,
and the level of education of the population.
Quite recently, the UN has even added a criterion to measure a country 's environmental impact
. Every two years, the International Monetary
Fund disseminates data on the economic strength of countries.
So today, we were able to finally get our hands on the data to rank the top 15 countries
on the list based on their GDP.
Now before we begin don’t forget to like and subscribe for more.
So without further wait, let’s start covering all these countries one by one:
15.
Indonesia With a population of 270 million, Indonesia
is the 15th richest country on the planet.
It is a unique economy in a sense that the state has a lot of assets and controls several
essential products such as oil, riche and electricity.
The South East Asian nation’s biggest strengths are agriculture and tourism.
14.
Brazil With a GDP of 1.430 trillion dollars, Brazil’s
economy is still at half mast.
The economic crisis of 2010 hit the South American nation quite hard and even today
it is battling unemployment, civil unrest, rampant corruption.
The coronation of Jair Boslonaro further exacerbated tensions but hopefully the country has enough
natural resources that could help it break into the top 10.
13.
Spain With a GDP of 1.45 trillion dollars, Spain
is slowly recovering from the 2008 financial crisis which saw a 26.3 percent increase in
unemployment as the country plunged into recession.
Today, the country’s economy is improving and the unemployment rate is also going down.
One of the biggest reasons behind Spain’s misfortune is that a lot of its graduates
left the country to seek better opportunities elsewhere and left with a rather aging population.
12.
Australia The Island continent offers one of the highest
standards of living on the planet.
With a GDP of 1.48 trillion dollars, the country is on the right track.
Its wealth is produced by its tourism and natural resources.
Not only that, Australia happens to have a free trade agreement in discussion with the
EU that will further improve its standing in the global community.
11.
Russia The nominal GDP of Russia stood at 1.7 trillion
dollars in 2019 and it is rightly the 11th largest economy on the planet.
In the 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has moved towards a more
market based economy.
However, government ownership and intervention in businesses is still common.
The country is the leader exporter of oil and gas and has other minerals and metals
at its disposal as well.
10.
South Korea With a GDP of 1.65 trillion, South Korean
economy is doing really well at the moment.
This country is the success story of the 20th century and has now firmly established itself
as an advanced, industrial economy.
With a wide network of free trade agreements with 58 countries, South Korea is a major
producer and exporter of electronics, telecom equipment and motor vehicles.
However, the country does face certain challenges today just like many advanced economies.
These issues range from slower growth rate to an aging workforce.
9.
Canada With a nominal GDP of 1.74 trillion dollars,
Canada is the ninth richest economy in the world.
The North American nation has a very well developed energy extraction sector and also
happens to boast the third largest proven oil reserves on the planet.
Not only that, it also has strong manufacturing and service sectors that are located near
the US border.
Its free trade relationship with its neighbor means that almost three quarters of Canadian
exports go to the US market each year.
8.
Italy With a GDP of 2.1 trillion dollars and despite
boasting a large debt, Italy is still one of the biggest economies on the planet.
However, the rate of unemployment is still very high and corruption is still an issue
that is yet to be addressed.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the European country has made several reforms aimed at
reducing deficit.
Unfortunately, those reforms struggle to address the issue since the country’s politics is
now characterized by the rise to power of rather extremist regimes.
7.
India Due to its huge population, India has been
able to rely upon a workforce based economy.
The country experienced strong growth between 2002 and 2012.
However, the economic crisis caused a lot of damage to its economy.
The South Asian state has a lot of problems to deal with though.
A third of the population lives below the poverty line, a third of children suffer from
malnutrition while many other social evils refuse to go away.
Not only that, the Hindutva ideology has alienated marginalized Muslim and Sikh communities.
Nonetheless, the country’s services sector continues to grow at a great pace while agricultural
sector is also going through a major transformation.
6.
United Kingdom This is an economy that is characterized by
strong banks and the financial center.
Since it left the EU, UK’s economy has been plagued by doubts but is unlikely to collapse
anytime soon.
The nation’s trading relationship with Europe has been severely hampered by Brexit but with
a GDP of 2.83 trillion dollars, you can expect them to bounce back from their issues.
5.
France The French economy is centered around its
service sector.
Like most European economies, France also struggled with the financial crisis.
However, the country is now experiencing a weak yet stable growth which is characterized
by a rich population.
Quite interesting to note here is that France has 579,000 millionaires.
No wonder their GDP is nearing 3 trillion dollars.
4.
Germany Germany is the fourth largest economy in the
world and boasts a GDP of 3.86 trillion dollars.
It is also Europe’s largest economy and is a top exporter of vehicles, chemicals,
machinery and has a highly skilled workforce.
At present, Germany is facing a lot of challenges to continue growing at a steady pace.
Germany has a low fertility rate which means that the country is finding it hard to replace
an aging workforce.
At the same time, the high levels of immigration is also impacting its social welfare system.
3.
Japan With a nominal GDP of 5.08 trillion dollars,
it will take some time for Germany to overtake Japan.
The country is unique in a sense that the government and industry have a great relationship
and these two have excellent tech know how.
This has helped Japan become a manufacturing and exporting giant.
Under the guidance of PM Shinzo Abe, Japan has experienced a sharp uptick in its fortunes.
However, lack of natural resources means that the island nation has to depend on energy
imports.
And like many advanced economies, Japan is also tackling the serious problem of an aging
population.
2.
China With a GDP of a whopping 14.34 trillion dollars,
China is the world’s second largest economy and its annual growth is happening at such
a pace that it might even outpace US at some point.
In the past four decades, the Asian giants have opened their economy which has helped
improve the living standards of its people.
Collectivized agriculture and industry has been gradually phased out which has given
more autonomy to businesses.
And then there’s an industrial policy change which gives confidence to domestic manufacturing.
No wonder CHina is now the world’s number one exporter.
However, the country really needs to address its aging population and environmental degradation.
1.
USA With a nominal GDP of 21.43 trillion dollars,
US remains the largest economy in the world and it is the service sector such as finance,
insurance, real estate and business services that have allowed the country to stay on these
lofty heights.
US economy allows for flexible business investment and what helps the cause further is that it
also happens to have significant gold reserves.
However, issues such as economic inequality, social safety net costs and poor infrastructure
might result in US relinquishing its spot to China.
That’s all for todays video, comment down below the most surprising entry on this list
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