GDP Rank
Korea ranked 14th in the economic scale in the world for five years in a row. According to the World Development Indicators of the World Bank published on July 13, Korea’s nominal GDP totaled US$1,304.5 billion last year.
This is the first time that the new GDP calculation method of the Bank of Korea, which allows for the foreign exchange rate, was applied to the estimation of the ranking. The nominal GDP increased by 7.8 percent compared to that of 2010.
Korea had ranked 12th on the list in 2000 and 2001 and 11th from 2002 to 2004. It joined the top 10 in 2005 but dropped a notch in the following year and slid to the 13th place in 2007 and to the 15th in 2008. It has remained at the 14th place for five years since 2009.
Last year, the United States topped the list with a GDP of US$16.8 trillion, followed by China (US$9,240.3 billion), Japan (US$4,901.5 billion), Germany (US$3,634.8 billion), France (US$2,734.9 billion), the United Kingdom (US$2,522.3 billion), Brazil (US$2,245.7 billion), Russia (US$2,096.8 billion), Italy (US$2,071.3 billion) India (US$1,876.8 billion), Canada (US$1,825.1 billion), Australia (US$1,560.6 billion), and Spain (US$1,358.3 billion).
Korea was followed by Mexico (US$1,260.9 billion), Indonesia (US$868.3 billion), Turkey (US$820.2 billion), the Netherlands (US$800.2 billion), Saudi Arabia (US$745.3 billion) and Switzerland (US$659.8 billion).
In the meantime, Korea recorded a per-capita GNI of US$25,920 last year to rank 46th based on the World Bank Atlas method, in which the average foreign exchange rate during the most recent three years is applied. The amount and ranking were US$33,440 and 43rd each on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.