China is set to surpass the United States as the largest economy in the world, according to a report released this week by the World Bank”™s International Comparison Program.
According to The Financial Times, the U.S. has had the largest economy since 1872, when it knocked the U.K. from the top spot.
The report analyzed 2011 statistics from 199 economies, focusing on a measure called purchasing power parities, which is used compare price levels and cost of living. The U.S. retained the top spot for 2011, but China”™s economy was growing at a much faster rate than the U.S., according to the report.
The Wall Street Journal noted that based on exchange rates, though, China would not surpass the U.S. The data may also not tell the whole story, the Journal reported, because of the large population of the country and because of possible statistical inaccuracies.
The report stated that the National Bureau of Statistics of China had “reservations” about the data and “did not agree to publish the headline results for China.” The World Bank used several other estimated results, but “the NBS of China does not endorse these results as official statistics.”
Other highlights of the report included an estimate that the 12 largest economies account for two-thirds of the world economy and 58 percent of the world’s population.
