Economy - overview:
Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) fell from 4.8%
in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001 and 2.7% in 2002. The causes: sluggishness
in the US economy (21% of GWP) and in the 15 EU economies (19% of
GWP); continued stagnation in the Japanese economy (7.2% of GWP);
and spillover effects in the less developed regions of the world.
China, the second-largest economy in the world (12% of GWP), proved
an exception, continuing its rapid annual growth, officially
announced as 8% but estimated by many observers as perhaps two
percentage points lower. Russia (2.6% of GWP), with 4% growth,
continued to make uneven progress, its GDP per capita still only
one-third that of the leading industrial nations. The other 14
successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations
again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic
nations continued as strong performers, in the 5% range of growth.
The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with
many countries facing population increases that erode gains in
output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock
economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over
international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology.
Internally, the central government often finds its control over
resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically
based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor
states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in
India, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central
government is losing decision-making powers to international bodies.
In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem
of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to
increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment.
The addition of 80 million people each year to an already
overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution,
desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of
their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized
countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the
poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point
of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the
euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January
1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse,
poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and
cultural and political differences among the participating nations.
The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a
further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example,
by the reallocation of resources away from investment to
anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a
US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic
prospects. (For specific economic developments in each country of
the world in 2002, see the individual country entries.)
GDP:
GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $49 trillion
(2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
2.7% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $7,900 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32%
services: 64% (2002 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to
60% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual
cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several
Third World countries
Labor force:
NA
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate:
30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many
non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12%
unemployment
Industries:
dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers,
robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment;
most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small
portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to
these technological forces; the accelerated development of new
industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already
grim environmental problems
Industrial production growth rate:
3% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production:
14.85 trillion kWh (2001 est.)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA%
other: NA%
nuclear: NA%
Electricity - consumption:
13.93 trillion kWh (2001 est.)
Oil - production:
75.46 million bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
76.21 million bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - proved reserves:
1.025 trillion bbl (37257)
Natural gas - production:
2.569 trillion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
2.556 trillion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
703.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
697.5 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
161.2 trillion cu m (37257)
Exports:
$6.6 trillion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Exports - partners:
US 17.4%, Germany 7.6%, UK 5.4%, France 5.1%, Japan 4.8%, China 4%
(2002)
Imports:
$6.6 trillion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Imports - partners:
US 11.2%, Germany 9.2%, China 7%, Japan 6.8%, France 4.7%, UK 4%
(2002)
Debt - external:
$2 trillion for less developed countries (2002 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
official development assistance (ODA) $50 billion