Comparing United States and China by Economy

The United States and China are the two largest economies globally in both nominal and PPP methods. The US is at the top in nominal, whereas China has been at the top in PPP since 2016 after overtaking the US. As of 2024, both countries together share 43.1% and 34.04% of the entire world's GDP in nominal and PPP terms, respectively. The GDP of both countries is higher than the 3rd-ranked countries, Japan (nominal) and India (PPP), by a huge margin. Therefore, only these two compete to become first.

As per projections by the IMF for 2024, with $29,167 billion, the United States is leading by $10,894 billion, or 1.6 times of China ($18,273 billion) on an exchange rate basis. The economy of China (Int. $37,072 billion) is Int. $7,904 billion, or 1.27x of the US (Int. $29,167 billion), on a purchasing power parity basis. According to estimates by the World Bank, China's GDP was approx. 11% of the US's GDP in 1960, but in 2023 it is 65%.

Due to the vast population of China, more than four times the 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 6.68 and 3.29 times higher than that of China in nominal and PPP terms, respectively. The US is the 6th richest country in the world, whereas China comes in at 73rd rank. On a PPP basis, the United States is in 9th position, and China is at 79th.

China achieved 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 -2.58% in 2009. The GDP growth rate was negative in seven years for the US. China showed negative growth in five years.