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United States |
China |
| Economy - overview |
The US has the most technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $59,500. US firms are at or near the forefront in technological advances, especially in computers, pharmaceuticals, and medical, aerospace, and military equipment; however, their advantage has narrowed since the end of World War II. Based on a comparison of GDP measured at purchasing power parity conversion rates, the US economy in 2014, having stood as the largest in the world for more than a century, slipped into second place behind China, which has more than tripled the US growth rate for each year of the past four decades. In the US, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. US business firms enjoy greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, to lay off surplus workers, and to develop new products. At the same time, businesses face higher barriers to enter their rivals' home markets than foreign firms face entering US markets. Long-term problems for the US include stagnation of wages for lower-income families, inadequate investment in deteriorating infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, energy shortages, and sizable current account and budget deficits. The onrush of technology has been a driving factor in the gradual development of a "two-tier" labor market in which those at the bottom lack the education and the professional/technical skills of those at the top and, more and more, fail to get comparable pay raises, health insurance coverage, and other benefits. But the globalization of trade, and especially the rise of low-wage producers such as China, has put additional downward pressure on wages and upward pressure on the return to capital. Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households. Since 1996, dividends and capital gains have grown faster than wages or any other category of after-tax income. Imported oil accounts for more than 50% of US consumption and oil has a major impact on the overall health of the economy. Crude oil prices doubled between 2001 and 2006, the year home prices peaked; higher gasoline prices ate into consumers' budgets and many individuals fell behind in their mortgage payments. Oil prices climbed another 50% between 2006 and 2008, and bank foreclosures more than doubled in the same period. Besides dampening the housing market, soaring oil prices caused a drop in the value of the dollar and a deterioration in the US merchandise trade deficit, which peaked at $840 billion in 2008. Because the US economy is energy-intensive, falling oil prices since 2013 have alleviated many of the problems the earlier increases had created. The sub-prime mortgage crisis, falling home prices, investment bank failures, tight credit, and the global economic downturn pushed the US into a recession by mid-2008. GDP contracted until the third quarter of 2009, the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression. To help stabilize financial markets, the US Congress established a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in October 2008. The government used some of these funds to purchase equity in US banks and industrial corporations, much of which had been returned to the government by early 2011. In January 2009, Congress passed and former President Barack OBAMA signed a bill providing an additional $787 billion fiscal stimulus to be used over 10 years - two-thirds on additional spending and one-third on tax cuts - to create jobs and to help the economy recover. In 2010 and 2011, the federal budget deficit reached nearly 9% of GDP. In 2012, the Federal Government reduced the growth of spending and the deficit shrank to 7.6% of GDP. US revenues from taxes and other sources are lower, as a percentage of GDP, than those of most other countries. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required major shifts in national resources from civilian to military purposes and contributed to the growth of the budget deficit and public debt. Through FY 2018, the direct costs of the wars will have totaled more than $1.9 trillion, according to US Government figures. In March 2010, former President OBAMA signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a health insurance reform that was designed to extend coverage to an additional 32 million Americans by 2016, through private health insurance for the general population and Medicaid for the impoverished. Total spending on healthcare - public plus private - rose from 9.0% of GDP in 1980 to 17.9% in 2010. In July 2010, the former president signed the DODD-FRANK Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a law designed to promote financial stability by protecting consumers from financial abuses, ending taxpayer bailouts of financial firms, dealing with troubled banks that are "too big to fail," and improving accountability and transparency in the financial system - in particular, by requiring certain financial derivatives to be traded in markets that are subject to government regulation and oversight. In December 2012, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) announced plans to purchase $85 billion per month of mortgage-backed and Treasury securities in an effort to hold down long-term interest rates, and to keep short-term rates near zero until unemployment dropped below 6.5% or inflation rose above 2.5%. The Fed ended its purchases during the summer of 2014, after the unemployment rate dropped to 6.2%, inflation stood at 1.7%, and public debt fell below 74% of GDP. In December 2015, the Fed raised its target for the benchmark federal funds rate by 0.25%, the first increase since the recession began. With continued low growth, the Fed opted to raise rates several times since then, and in December 2017, the target rate stood at 1.5%. In December 2017, Congress passed and President Donald TRUMP signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which, among its various provisions, reduces the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%; lowers the individual tax rate for those with the highest incomes from 39.6% to 37%, and by lesser percentages for those at lower income levels; changes many deductions and credits used to calculate taxable income; and eliminates in 2019 the penalty imposed on taxpayers who do not obtain the minimum amount of health insurance required under the ACA. The new taxes took effect on 1 January 2018; the tax cut for corporations are permanent, but those for individuals are scheduled to expire after 2025. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) under the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new law will reduce tax revenues and increase the federal deficit by about $1.45 trillion over the 2018-2027 period. This amount would decline if economic growth were to exceed the JCT’s estimate. |
Since the late 1970s, China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a major global role. China has implemented reforms in a gradualist fashion, resulting in efficiency gains that have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. Reforms began with the phaseout of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, growth of the private sector, development of stock markets and a modern banking system, and opening to foreign trade and investment. China continues to pursue an industrial policy, state support of key sectors, and a restrictive investment regime. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis that adjusts for price differences, China in 2016 stood as the largest economy in the world, surpassing the US in 2014 for the first time in modern history. China became the world's largest exporter in 2010, and the largest trading nation in 2013. Still, China's per capita income is below the world average. After keeping its currency tightly linked to the US dollar for years, China in July 2005 moved to an exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies. From mid-2005 to late 2008, the renminbi appreciated more than 20% against the US dollar, but the exchange rate remained virtually pegged to the dollar from the onset of the global financial crisis until June 2010, when Beijing announced it would allow a resumption of gradual liberalization. From 2013 until early 2015, the renminbi (RMB) appreciated roughly 2% against the dollar, but the exchange rate fell 13% from mid-2015 until end-2016 amid strong capital outflows in part stemming from the August 2015 official devaluation; in 2017 the RMB resumed appreciating against the dollar – roughly 7% from end-of-2016 to end-of-2017. From 2013 to 2017, China had one of the fastest growing economies in the world, averaging slightly more than 7% real growth per year. In 2015, the People’s Bank of China announced it would continue to carefully push for full convertibility of the renminbi, after the currency was accepted as part of the IMF’s special drawing rights basket. However, since late 2015 the Chinese Government has strengthened capital controls and oversight of overseas investments to better manage the exchange rate and maintain financial stability. The Chinese Government faces numerous economic challenges including: (a) reducing its high domestic savings rate and correspondingly low domestic household consumption; (b) managing its high corporate debt burden to maintain financial stability; (c) controlling off-balance sheet local government debt used to finance infrastructure stimulus; (d) facilitating higher-wage job opportunities for the aspiring middle class, including rural migrants and college graduates, while maintaining competitiveness; (e) dampening speculative investment in the real estate sector without sharply slowing the economy; (f) reducing industrial overcapacity; and (g) raising productivity growth rates through the more efficient allocation of capital and state-support for innovation. Economic development has progressed further in coastal provinces than in the interior, and by 2016 more than 169.3 million migrant workers and their dependents had relocated to urban areas to find work. One consequence of China’s population control policy known as the “one-child policy” - which was relaxed in 2016 to permit all families to have two children - is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world. Deterioration in the environment - notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table, especially in the North - is another long-term problem. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and urbanization. The Chinese Government is seeking to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, focusing on natural gas, nuclear, and clean energy development. In 2016, China ratified the Paris Agreement, a multilateral agreement to combat climate change, and committed to peak its carbon dioxide emissions between 2025 and 2030. The government's 13th Five-Year Plan, unveiled in March 2016, emphasizes the need to increase innovation and boost domestic consumption to make the economy less dependent on government investment, exports, and heavy industry. However, China has made more progress on subsidizing innovation than rebalancing the economy. Beijing has committed to giving the market a more decisive role in allocating resources, but the Chinese Government’s policies continue to favor state-owned enterprises and emphasize stability. Chinese leaders in 2010 pledged to double China’s GDP by 2020, and the 13th Five Year Plan includes annual economic growth targets of at least 6.5% through 2020 to achieve that goal. In recent years, China has renewed its support for state-owned enterprises in sectors considered important to "economic security," explicitly looking to foster globally competitive industries. Chinese leaders also have undermined some market-oriented reforms by reaffirming the “dominant” role of the state in the economy, a stance that threatens to discourage private initiative and make the economy less efficient over time. The slight acceleration in economic growth in 2017—the first such uptick since 2010—gives Beijing more latitude to pursue its economic reforms, focusing on financial sector deleveraging and its Supply-Side Structural Reform agenda, first announced in late 2015. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity) |
$19.36 trillion (2017 est.) $18.95 trillion (2016 est.) $18.67 trillion (2015 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars country comparison to the world: 3 |
$23.12 trillion (2017 est.) $21.66 trillion (2016 est.) $20.3 trillion (2015 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars country comparison to the world: 1 |
| GDP (official exchange rate) |
$19.36 trillion (2017 est.) |
$11.94 trillion (2017 est.) note: because China's exchange rate is determined by fiat rather than by market forces, the official exchange rate measure of GDP is not an accurate measure of China's output; GDP at the official exchange rate substantially understates the actual level of China's output vis-a-vis the rest of the world; in China's situation, GDP at purchasing power parity provides the best measure for comparing output across countries |
| GDP - real growth rate |
2.2% (2017 est.) 1.5% (2016 est.) 2.9% (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 144 |
6.8% (2017 est.) 6.7% (2016 est.) 6.9% (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 13 |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) |
$59,500 (2017 est.) $58,600 (2016 est.) $58,200 (2015 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars country comparison to the world: 20 |
$16,600 (2017 est.) $15,700 (2016 est.) $14,800 (2015 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars country comparison to the world: 106 |
| Gross national saving |
17.5% of GDP (2017 est.) 18% of GDP (2016 est.) 19.4% of GDP (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 105 |
45.4% of GDP (2017 est.) 45.9% of GDP (2016 est.) 47.5% of GDP (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 4 |
| GDP - composition, by end use |
household consumption: 69.1% government consumption: 17.2% investment in fixed capital: 16.3% investment in inventories: 0.3% exports of goods and services: 12.2% imports of goods and services: -15.1% (2017 est.) |
household consumption: 39.1% government consumption: 14.6% investment in fixed capital: 43.3% investment in inventories: 1.1% exports of goods and services: 19.6% imports of goods and services: -17.7% (2017 est.) |
| GDP - composition, by sector of origin |
agriculture: 0.9% industry: 18.9% services: 80.2% (2017 est.) |
agriculture: 8.2% industry: 39.5% services: 52.2% (2017 est.) |
| Agriculture - products |
wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish; forest products |
world leader in gross value of agricultural output; rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, tobacco, peanuts, tea, apples, cotton, pork, mutton, eggs; fish, shrimp |
| Industries |
highly diversified, world leading, high-technology innovator, second-largest industrial output in the world; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining |
world leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizer; consumer products (including footwear, toys, and electronics); food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, railcars and locomotives, ships, aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites |
| Industrial production growth rate |
1.8% (2017 est.) country comparison to the world: 144 |
6.2% (2017 est.) country comparison to the world: 32 |
| Labor force |
160.4 million note: includes unemployed (2017 est.) country comparison to the world: 4 |
806.7 million note: by the end of 2012, China's population at working age (15-64 years) was 1.004 billion (2017 est.) country comparison to the world: 1 |
| Labor force - by occupation |
farming, forestry, and fishing: 0.7% manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts: 20.3% managerial, professional, and technical: 37.3% sales and office: 24.2% other services: 17.6% note: figures exclude the unemployed (2009 est.) |
agriculture: 28.3% industry: 29.3% services: 42.4% (2016 est.) |
| Unemployment rate |
4.4% (2017 est.) 4.9% (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 60 |
4% (2017 est.) 4% (2016 est.) note: data are for registered urban unemployment, which excludes private enterprises and migrants country comparison to the world: 48 |
| Population below poverty line |
15.1% (2010 est.) |
3.3% note: in 2011, China set a new poverty line at RMB 2300 (approximately US $400) (2016 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share |
lowest 10%: 2% highest 10%: 30% (2007 est.) |
lowest 10%: 2.1% highest 10%: 31.4% note: data are for urban households only (2012 est.) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index |
45 (2007 est.) 40.8 (1997 est.) country comparison to the world: 41 |
46.5 (2016 est.) 46.2 (2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 31 |
| Budget |
revenues: $3.336 trillion expenditures: $3.991 trillion note: for the US, revenues exclude social contributions of approximately $1.0 trillion; expenditures exclude social benefits of approximately $2.3 trillion (2017 est.) |
revenues: $2.672 trillion expenditures: $3.146 trillion (2017 est.) |
| Taxes and other revenues |
17.2% of GDP note: excludes contributions for social security and other programs; if social contributions were added, taxes and other revenues would amount to approximately 22% of GDP (2017 est.) country comparison to the world: 176 |
22.4% of GDP (2017 est.) country comparison to the world: 134 |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) |
-3.4% of GDP (2017 est.) country comparison to the world: 128 |
-4% of GDP (2017 est.) country comparison to the world: 143 |
| Public debt |
77.4% of GDP (2017 est.) 76.5% of GDP (2016 est.) note: data cover only what the United States Treasury denotes as "Debt Held by the Public," which includes all debt instruments issued by the Treasury that are owned by non-US Government entities; the data include Treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data exclude debt issued by individual US states, as well as intra-governmental debt; intra-governmental debt consists of Treasury borrowings from surpluses in the trusts for Federal Social Security, Federal Employees, Hospital and Supplemental Medical Insurance (Medicare), Disability and Unemployment, and several other smaller trusts; if data for intra-government debt were added, "gross debt" would increase by about one-third of GDP country comparison to the world: 43 |
18.6% of GDP (2017 est.) 16.1% of GDP (2016 est.) note: official data; data cover both central government debt and local government debt, including debt officially recognized by China's National Audit Office report in 2011; data exclude policy bank bonds, Ministry of Railway debt, and China Asset Management Company debt country comparison to the world: 190 |
| Fiscal year |
1 October - 30 September |
calendar year |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) |
2.1% (2017 est.) 1.3% (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 97 |
1.8% (2017 est.) 2% (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 82 |
| Central bank discount rate |
0.5% (31 December 2010 est.) 0.5% (31 December 2009 est.) country comparison to the world: 134 |
2.25% (5 December 2017 est.) 2.25% (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 115 |
| Commercial bank prime lending rate |
4.3% (31 December 2017 est.) 3.51% (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 156 |
4.4% (5 December 2017 est.) 4.35% (30 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 154 |
| Stock of narrow money |
$3.627 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $3.25 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 4 |
$8.16 trillion (31 October 2017 est.) $7.001 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 1 |
| Stock of broad money |
$14 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $12.84 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 2 |
$25.24 trillion (October 2017 est.) $22.3 trillion (December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 1 |
| Stock of domestic credit |
$21.59 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $20.24 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 2 |
$26.87 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $23.02 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 1 |
| Market value of publicly traded shares |
$25.07 trillion (31 December 2015 est.) $26.33 trillion (31 December 2014 est.) $24.03 trillion (31 December 2013 est.) country comparison to the world: 1 |
$7.321 trillion (31 November 2017 est.) $8.188 trillion (December 2016 est.) $6.005 trillion (December 2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 2 |
| Current account balance |
$-462 billion (2017 est.) $-451.7 billion (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 201 |
$162.5 billion (2017 est.) $196.4 billion (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 4 |
| Exports |
$1.576 trillion (2017 est.) $1.456 trillion (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 3 |
$2.157 trillion (2017 est.) $1.99 trillion (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 1 |
| Exports - commodities |
agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn) 9.2%, industrial supplies (organic chemicals) 26.8%, capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment) 49.0%, consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) 15.0% (2008 est.) |
electrical and other machinery, including computers and telecommunications equipment, apparel, furniture, textiles |
| Exports - partners |
Canada 18.3%, Mexico 15.9%, China 8%, Japan 4.4% (2016) |
US 18.2%, Hong Kong 13.8%, Japan 6.1%, South Korea 4.5% (2016) |
| Imports |
$2.352 trillion (2017 est.) $2.208 trillion (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 1 |
$1.731 trillion (2017 est.) $1.495 trillion (2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 2 |
| Imports - commodities |
agricultural products 4.9%, industrial supplies 32.9% (crude oil 8.2%), capital goods 30.4% (computers, telecommunications equipment, motor vehicle parts, office machines, electric power machinery), consumer goods 31.8% (automobiles, clothing, medicines, furniture, toys) (2008 est.) |
electrical and other machinery, including integrated circuits and other computer components, oil and mineral fuels; optical and medical equipment, metal ores, motor vehicles; soybeans |
| Imports - partners |
China 21.1%, Mexico 13.4%, Canada 12.7%, Japan 6%, Germany 5.2% (2016) |
South Korea 10%, Japan 9.2%, US 8.5%, Germany 5.4%, Australia 4.4% (2016) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold |
$117.3 billion (31 December 2016 est.) $117.6 billion (31 December 2015 est.) country comparison to the world: 22 |
$3.194 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $3.098 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 1 |
| Debt - external |
$17.91 trillion (31 March 2016 est.) $17.85 trillion (31 March 2015 est.) note: approximately 4/5ths of US external debt is denominated in US dollars; foreign lenders have been willing to hold US dollar denominated debt instruments because they view the dollar as the world's reserve currency country comparison to the world: 1 |
$1.649 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $1.467 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 14 |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - at home |
$4.084 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $3.614 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 3 |
$1.514 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $1.391 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 6 |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad |
$5.644 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $5.352 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 3 |
$1.342 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $1.227 trillion (31 December 2016 est.) country comparison to the world: 12 |
| Exchange rates |
British pounds per US dollar: 0.7836 (2017 est.), 0.738 (2016 est.), 0.738 (2015 est.), 0.607 (2014 est), 0.6391 (2013 est.) Canadian dollars per US dollar: 1, 1.308 (2017 est.), 1.3256 (2016 est.), 1.3256 (2015 est.), 1.2788 (2014 est.), 1.0298 (2013 est.) Chinese yuan per US dollar: 1, 6.7588 (2017 est.), 6.6445 (2016 est.), 6.2275 (2015 est.), 6.1434 (2014 est.), 6.1958 (2013 est.) euros per US dollar: 0.885 (2017 est.), 0.903 (2016 est.), 0.9214(2015 est.), 0.885 (2014 est.), 0.7634 (2013 est.) Japanese yen per US dollar: 111.10 (2017 est.), 108.76 (2016 est.), 108.76 (2015 est.), 121.02 (2014 est.), 97.44 (2013 est.) |
Renminbi yuan (RMB) per US dollar - 7.76 (2017 est.) 6.64 (2016 est.) 6.23 (2015 est.) 6.14 (2014 est.) 6.2 (2013 est.) |
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AUD (Australian Dollar)
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CAD (Canadian Dollar)
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