China to Become World's Largest Economy by 2017

The U.S. will soon become the world's second-largest economy according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Measured on purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, China will overtake the U.S. in 2017; on a market exchange rate basis, the U.S. will fall to second place by 2027. Even more startling, perhaps, is PwC's projection that the U.K. will drop out of the world's top ten largest economies by 2050.

In 2030, the top five economies on a PPP basis will be China ($30.6 trillion), the U.S. ($23.4 trillion), India ($13.7 trillion), Japan ($5.8 trillion), and Russia ($5.3 trillion). By 2050, the top five will be China ($53.9 trillion), the U.S. ($38 trillion), India ($34.7 trillion), Brazil ($8.8 trillion), and Russia ($8.1 trillion).

In 2011, the U.S. topped the charts with GDP of $15.1 trillion, followed by China with $11.3 trillion in GDP.

The changes are due largely to faster growth rates in the 7 largest emerging economies, which are expected to post total GDP 50% larger than the 7 largest developed economies by 2050.

The PwC report is available here.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, China, Economy, International Markets, Research