Map of the week: The Wealth of Nations
As Britain experiences declining wealth for the first time in 16 years and the IMF looks to bail out Ukraine and Hungary, I thought it might be interesting to offer some global perspective.
My map of the week comes from the newly published "Atlas of the Real World" and, fittingly perhaps, (as some ponder on the drawbacks of the global free market system) looks at what Adam Smith described as "the wealth of nations".
What we see are two rather odd-looking maps which twist and stretch the world so we see countries in terms of increasing or declining wealth.
The size of each territory in the first map shows the growth of GDP from 1975 to 2002, adjusted for local purchasing power. Two-thirds of the territories in the world experienced increases in their wealth over this period. China saw the biggest increase, followed by the United States, Japan, India and Germany. China and India do well mainly because of their very large populations: they experienced relatively small increases in GDP per person over the 27 years, but those translate into large growth in GDP when multiplied by the population size.
The second map shows the decline in GDP over the same period, also adjusted for local purchasing power. More than half of the territories that became poorer over this period were in Eastern Europe. Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Saudi Arabia experienced the largest declines with Ukraine registering a decline more than twice that undergone by any other territory.
Another way of looking at this phenomenon is in terms of increases and decreases in wealth per person in different countries over the same period.
Largest Increases in GDP per person 1975-2002 (US$)
1. Luxembourg 39,968
2. Equatorial Guinea 28,600
3. Ireland 24,991
4. Norway 19,235
5. Hong Kong (China) 18,496
6. Singapore 17,601
7. United States 14,805
8. South Korea 13,523
9. Japan 13,468
10. Cyprus 12,898
15. United Kingdom 11,230
Largest Decreases in GDP per person 1975-2002 (US$)
1. Ukraine 25,903
2. United Arab Emirates 25,847
3. Slovenia 17,826
4. Czech Republic 15,172
5. Saudi Arabia 12,409
6. Poland 10,153
7. Turkmenistan 10,073
8. Lithuania 9,922
9. Croatia 9,845
10. Tajikistan 8,608
I have to admit, the story revealed by the maps comes as something of a surprise. The economic decline of Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union - albeit that the situation may have improved since 2002 - was not a story that got much play in the British media.
No wonder Ukraine finds itself so exposed today.
I would also appreciate any observations on the lists of countries which saw the largest increases and decreases in wealth per person.
The discovery of oil in Equatorial Guinea explains its place at number two in the increasing wealth table but the statistics hide a tragic story of corruption and brutality. Most of the country's population barely survive on an income of less than $1 a day with sewage running through the streets of the capital.
"The Atlas of the Real World" by Daniel Dorling, Mark Newman and Anna Barford is published by Thames and Hudson.
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