World - Economy
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Economy - overview
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| Global output rose by 5.2% in 2007, led by China (11.4%), India (9.2%), and Russia (8.1%). The 14 other successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 8%-10% range of growth. From 2006 to 2007 growth rates slowed in all the major industrial countries except for the United Kingdom (3.0%). Analysts attribute the slowdown to uncertainties in the financial markets and lowered consumer confidence. Worldwide, nations varied widely in their growth results. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably the EU. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the initial coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued through 2007. |
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GDP (purchasing power parity)
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| GWP (gross world product): $65.61 trillion (2007 est.) |
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GDP (official exchange rate)
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| GWP (gross world product): $54.62 trillion (2007 est.) |
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GDP - real growth rate
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| 5.2% (2007 est.) |
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GDP - per capita (PPP)
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| $10,000 (2007 est.) |
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GDP - composition by sector
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Labor force
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| 3.131 billion (2007 est.) |
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Labor force - by occupation
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Unemployment rate
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| 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2007 est.) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share
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Inflation rate (consumer prices)
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| developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 20% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in one Third World country (Zimbabwe); inflation rates have declined for most countries for the last several years, held in check by increasing international competition from several low wage countries (2005 est.) |
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Investment (gross fixed)
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| 22.7% of GDP (2007 est.) |
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Industries
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| dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
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Industrial production growth rate
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| 5% (2007 est.) |
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Electricity - production
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| 18.58 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
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Electricity - production by source
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Electricity - consumption
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| 16.83 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
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Electricity - exports
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| 634.8 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity - imports
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| 620.5 billion kWh (2005) |
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Oil - production
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| 78.9 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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Oil - consumption
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| 80.29 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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Oil - exports
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| 63.76 million bbl/day (2004) |
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Oil - imports
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| 63.18 million bbl/day (2004) |
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Oil - proved reserves
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| 1.331 trillion bbl (1 January 2006 est.) |
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Natural gas - production
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| 2.854 trillion cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - consumption
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| 3 trillion cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - exports
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| 808 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
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Natural gas - imports
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| 786.5 billion cu m (2005) |
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Natural gas - proved reserves
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| 172 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
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Exports
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| $14.01 trillion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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Exports - commodities
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Exports - partners
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| US 15%, Germany 7.4%, China 5.9%, France 4.6%, UK 4.5%, Japan 4.4% (2006) |
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Imports
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| $13.91 trillion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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Imports - commodities
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Imports - partners
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| China 9.8%, Germany 8.8%, US 8.5%, Japan 5.6%, France 4% (2006) |
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Economic aid - recipient
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| ODA, $106.4 billion (2005) |
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Debt - external
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Stock of direct foreign investment - at home
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Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad
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Market value of publicly traded shares
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| $43.64 trillion (2005 est.) |