In September 2016, leaders from the world’s most powerful economies met for the G20 Summitto
discuss matters of international financial prosperity.
But perhaps surprisingly, some of the fastest growing economies were not even represented.
So, what are these rapidly growing economies?
Well, according to CIA Factbook, one of the countries with the highest GDP growth is Papua
New Guinea, a small, independent state just north of Australia.
Papua New Guinea is a rural country, and about 85 percent of the population earns its livelihood
from agriculture.
However agricultural exports - namely palm oil, coffee and cocao, only account for about
a fourth of the country’s roughly $20 billion dollar GDP.
The rest comes from mineral deposits, like gas, copper and gold Gas, in particular, has
been a key contributor to Papua New Guinea’s dramatic economic growth, as foreign oil companies
have been exporting the resource since 2004.
At the time, its GDP was just about $4 billion dollars.
Papua New Guinea’s GDP has grown by nearly 8 percent every year on average over the
past three years, however the profits have not trickled down to most Papua New Guineans,
as nearly forty percent continue to live in poverty.
Not too far from Papua New Guinea is another booming economy - the tiny island nation of
Palau.
This may come as a surprise, as Palau is extremely isolated and survives almost entirely on fishing,
agriculture, tourism and large stipends from the United States.
Tourism is particularly important, and Palau seriously struggled at times when major airlines
suspended flights to the archipelago for economic reasons.
However this all changed in 2014 when China introduced direct charter services to the
island.
That year, Palau saw roughly 125,000 foreign tourists, a nearly 14 percent increase from
the previous year.
In 2015 that number jumped to more than 160,000, nearly half of whom were from China.
Although the tourism spike has led to 9 percent annual GDP growth, Palauans are now outnumbered
nearly 8 to one by tourists, and are reportedly unhappy with the toll tourism has taken on
the environment.
But the fastest growing economy in the world, according to recent figures, is actually Ethiopia.
Over the past decade the east African country’s GDP has grown by an average of 10 percent
every year, and today it is $160 billion dollars.
This relatively sudden influx of wealth is primarily a result of ambitious investments
in infrastructure, a growing manufacturing industry, consistent demand for the country’s
agricultural exports and an ongoing privatization of its largest companies.
That said, the country still can’t provide enough jobs for its rapidly growing population,
and much of the money ends up in the hands of corrupt officials.
What’s more, Ethiopia is suffering from one of its worst droughts in decades, leaving
much of the population poor and food insecure.
There’s no doubt that Ethiopia, Palau and Papua New Guinea are growing fast.
However these countries have relatively little money to begin with, while other countries
like Ireland and Uzbekistan are much wealthier and growing at comparable rates.
Growth rates are notoriously unstable and volatile, so while all of these countries
are growing fast, it's not a guarantee of future success.