Three decades ago, China’s annual economic output was about $433bn in current dollar terms, making its economy roughly the size of an Austria or South Africa today.
It is now comfortably the world’s biggest economy — with current-dollar gross domestic product of $17.7tn — and in the post-financial crisis era it has easily been the single biggest contributor to global GDP growth.
Between the beginning of 2010 and the end of 2020, China’s economy grew by about $11.6tn in current-dollar terms. That’s the equivalent to adding about six and a half Russias, almost four UKs or Indias, nearly three Germanys, more than two Japans, or more than 50 Greeces. It’s like adding an Indonesia every year for a decade.