Economic Powers

In 1872, the United States of America overtook Britain to become the

largest economy in the world- a status that it was able to retain for the
next 142 years. However, all changed in October when gross domestic
product (GDP) figures from the International Monetary Fund, adjusted for
purchasing power parity (PPP), showed that the Chinese economy was
now worth $17.61 trillion and had surpassed the American economy which
was worth $17.4 trillion. China has experienced unprecedented growth
over the few years, with astonishing double-digit growth rates for the first
decade of the 21st century, and now it accounts for 16.5% of the worlds
economy in real purchasing-power terms, a whole 0.2% ahead of the
United States. China also tops the list of the biggest foreign creditors to
the United States, controlling $1.261 trillion in U.S. treasuries. IMF
estimates that the Chinese economy will be worth $26.98 trillion by 2019
and will be 20% larger than that of the United States which is forecast to
be only $22.3 trillion by then. In the past, the United States lead in
technological advancement was one of the primary factors behind its
economic power. It seems that China has taken a page out of USAs book
and has focused investment into technological development and startups. The success of its e-commerce industry, with its $26 billion posterchild Alibaba.com, and its latest ranking by the Global Innovation Index as
the leading middle-income country in innovation is proof that China has all
the right tools to become the worlds economic leader and retain that
position for quite some time.
However, some economists argue that China may never assume the role
of a sole global economic leader due to its low GDP per capita that as of
2014 was still only a little one-ninth that of the United States. This coupled
with the Japan-style collapse in Chinas population growth that will reduce
the amount of available labour in the next decade.
At the top of the list of other contenders for the worlds economic throne
stands India, which, as of 2014, has an annual GDP growth rate of 7.4%
that is among the highest in the world, and, with an annual population
growth rate of 1.2%, is expected to be the most populous country in the
world by 2022. The World bank estimates that by 2050, Indias annual
GDP will have risen to $24.98 trillion while PwC estimates that Indias
economy will be worth $42 trillion dollar by then- a whole trillion dollars
more than the estimate for the United States. Due to its younger
population, Indias economy is expected to expand at an average annual
rate of 6.4% till 2020, a figure greater than the estimate for China.
However, India might take lead in the economic arena far sooner than that
as both the IMF and World Bank estimate that it will overtake China as the
fastest growing major economy as early as 2016.
As of 2014, Russia remains the sixth-largest economy in terms of PPP, but
its rise as the worlds largest oil producer in 2014 has made some
economists expect a revival of Russia as a global economic and political

power. Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey (now being called the MINT
nations) are also being dubbed as future star-players in the economic
game, due to their strategic geographic locations and advantageous inner
demographics that will result in a rise in the number of people eligible for
work relative to those not working in the next 20 years. Mexico and
Nigeria also have the added advantage of being among the top 15 oil
producers in the world which contributes their importance. These nations
are forecast to be among the fifteen largest economies by 2050 and
accordingly, increasingly influential in the coming decades.

Sources

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-official-america-is-now-no-2-201412-04
http://news.investors.com/blogs-capital-hill/120414-729143-chinaeconomy-has-not-surpassed-us-economy.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2785905/China-overtakes-U-Sworld-s-largest-economy-IMF-says-economy-worth-17-6trillion-Americafalls-second-place-time-1872.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25548060
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/china-set-to-become-a-leader-inthe-world-of-technology/
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/16/china-tops-list-of-us-foreign-creditorsonce-more.html
http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/china-india-to-lead-world-by-2050-sayspwc/
http://www.pwc.com.au/media-centre/2015/world-in-2050-feb15.htm
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2015/01/weodata/index.aspx

1. mes the largest in the world: