China's Economic Growth

According to a recent article by Nin-Hai Tseng on CNNMoney.com, China's recent economic strides are somewhat deceiving in that Chinese citizens still lag far behind those of other developed nations in terms of wealth. This is reflected in China's GDP and GDP per capita relative to the world's other large economies - the US, Japan, France and Germany. The following graph charts the climb in China's GDP relative to these four other countries. As the graph indicates, China recently surpassed Japan's economy, making it the second largest economy in 2010.

The graph below charts the same data except uses China's GDP per capita rather than GDP, taking its enormous population (approximately 1.3 billion) into account. As the graph indicates, China's GDP per capita is substantially lower than that of the US, Japan, France and Germany.

However, while it may be lagging far behind other developed countries, China's GDP per capita is growing quite rapidly in tandem with its GDP. From 2009 to 2010, it increased by 15% - going from $3,744 to $4,300. Furthermore, China is projected to surpass the US and become the world's largest economy by 2025, and GDP per capita will likely continue to rise with this growth.