Jun 13th 2011, 10:20 by The Economist online
Which countries have had most, and least, GDP growth per person since 2001?
FOR all its faults, GDP per person is still the measure that gives the best indicator of economic progress or lack thereof. The countries where GDP per head grew fastest between 2001 and 2010"”Equatorial Guinea, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan"”are all rich in natural resources, and were beneficiaries of the past decade's boom in commodity prices. China is an exception to this rule, which makes its growth even more impressive. And while it usually helps to start relatively poor, a bad start does not necessarily result in success later on. Haiti and Zimbabwe have both explored how much ruin there is in a nation over the past decade and show little sign of improving. They are two of only 15 countries that have seen negative growth since 2001. Slow population growth also helps: although America's economy has grown considerably faster than Japan's since 2001, Japan's population has shrunk while America's has risen. This means that income per head in Japan has grown almost as rapidly as in America over this period.
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Is there a link to complete figures?
Surprising. Italy observed a negative growth during the last decade? I always knew it was a constituent of the PIIGS group, which has been well renowned much recently, I never knew it actually had a negative growth rate for the decade collectively.
I'm quite certain a lot of Central Asian countries would have made it on the list, if it weren't for their corrupt leaders. I'm actually quite surprised to see a registered growth of almost 14% by Equatorial Guinea when it's being run by one of the most ruthless and corrupt dictator, but well, for a fact, that actually helps a country which relies heavily on exporting natural resources.
The West finds it much easier to co-operate with a single blood-sucking,corrupt leader on a marginal basis than working out with countries with largely flawed democracies.
Where's the West ?
@Winston C
Waiting to spawn. :P
An article published in Forbes magazine suggested Obiang has gathered roughly $700 million of the country's wealth in US bank accounts. Obiang is Equatorial Guinea's authoritarian leader.
The same countries that are showing rapid GDP growth over the past decade are the same countries that have manageable sovereign debt issues as well. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the developed nations of the world are the ones responsible for amassing unsustainable levels of sovereign debt. This is in complete contrast to the 1970s and 1980s when the so-called "third world nations" were responsible for debt default after debt default.
Here is a summary of the sovereign debt of the world:
http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2011/04/debtworld-were-drowning-in-...
I don't know about you, but this below 1% (as it appears to me) growth for the US should be so alarming and sad. Some say that this decade might be our Lost Decade, but I think the previous one already was!
@ Steve Thompson: Cause and effect - effect and cause. Higher GDP growth rates and they would now have lower share of debt as a share of GDP.
@ Steve Thompson: Cause and effect - effect and cause. Higher GDP growth rates and they would now have lower share of debt as a share of GDP.
@Kashluk: I'm afraid not. We crunched the numbers using IMF economic data and UN population data.
hi
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