Comparing United States and China by Economy

The United States and China are the two largest economies globally in both Nominal and PPP methods. US is at the top in nominal, whereas China is at the top in PPP since 2016 after overtaking the US. As of 2023, both countries together share 42.73% and 34.23% of the entire world's GDP in nominal and PPP terms, respectively. The GDP of both countries is higher than the 3rd ranked country Japan (nominal) and India (PPP) by a huge margin. Therefore, only these two compete to become first.

As per projections by IMF for 2023, United States is leading by $9,249 bn or 1.52 times on an exchange rate basis. The economy of China is Int. $5,948 billion or 1.22x of the US on purchasing power parity basis. According to estimates by World Bank, China's gdp was approx 11% of the US in 1960, but in 2022 it is 71%.

Due to the vast population of China, more than four times of US's population, the difference between these two countries is very high in terms of per capita income. The Per capita income of the United States is 6.41 and 3.45 times higher than that of China in nominal and PPP terms, respectively. The US is the 7th richest country in the world, whereas China comes at 75th rank. On a PPP basis, The United States is in 10th position, and China is at 77th.

China attains a maximum gdp growth rate of 19.30% in 1970 and a minimum of -27.27% in 1961. During the period 1961 to 2022, China grew by more than 10% in 22 years. The United States reached an all-time high of 7.24% in 1984 and a record low of -2.77% in 2020. GDP growth rate was negative in eight years for the US. China showed negative growth in five years.

According to World Factbook, China is ahead of the US in Agriculture and Industry sector. Agriculture Output of United States is only 17.58% of China and 77.58% for the Industry sector. The services sector of the US is more than double of China.

• GDP
• GDP per capita
• GDP growth

Projections by IMF

Estimates by World Bank