Capital is in China and Europe. EU can become a global leader
The results of the economic capital subindex (which includes the size of the GDP of a given country, an average rating and the number of wealthy people living in a given country) differ significantly from the results of the overall power index. In terms of capital, it is China that holds the top spot in the world, receiving 16.83 points. The US is second (13.66 points), India third (6.61 points), followed by Germany (3.65 points) and Japan. Russia ranks only sixth.
Economic Capital Index, 1991-2016
Poland is this category holds the 24th spot in the world, ahead of the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium. Ahead of us is Iran (20th place) and Turkey (15th). The smallest economies in the world are North Korean (last place at 168), Micronesia, Comoro Islands, Antigua and Barbados and Guinea-Bissau. Hungary hold only the 58th place and the Czech Republic the 48th.
30 countries with the highest results in the Capital Index in 2016 and the EU’s potential (points)
If the EU were a more cohesive unit, it would have the biggest capital in the world—18.27 points. But today the problem of a unifying Europe is its falling share of the world capital. Just in 1991, only 12 countries were members of the EU, but if they were considered as a monolith, their economic potential would had been worth 23.2 points, which would have been a better result than the US (19.5 points) and China, whose small economic weight at the time (3.48 points) was then smaller than Japan’s economic weight today.
In 1991-2016, China made the biggest gains in terms of its capital—its economic indicator rose by a massive 12.89 points. Meanwhile, the measure for the US fell by 5.84 points. The last few years were crucial in this category, when “new money” bean to appear in China, along with new millionaires climbing up the lists of the richest people. Even back in 2015, the US was able to count on an economic potential of 15.89 points and China of 15.24. In the coming years, China’s potential will rise rapidly.
The other country that also reported large gains was India—3.7 points. The share of the world’s riches also rose among countries such as Indonesia, Iraq, Turkey, Nigeria, Qatar and Vietnam. In Poland, it rose by 0.21 points (which gave Poland the 13th place in terms of growth in the period measured). Only Serbia posted a similar growth in our region—of 0.13 points.
Meanwhile, for Russia the capital indicator fell by 1.21 points in the last quarter century. Interestingly, this indicator fell in the last twenty or so years in almost a third of the countries (mainly developed), which points to the ongoing global economic reshuffle.