The largest economies in the world, 1960–2026

Biggest climbs among today's top 10: Russia from #22 in 1999, India from #18 in 1991, China from #12 in 1980.

Breaks and caveats

1. Soviet Union: the World Bank has no data for the USSR, one of the largest economies of its time, so the ranks leave it out. Russia's figures start in 1988, while it was still a Soviet republic (until 1991).
2. Germany: before 1991 the World Bank figures are estimates for today's territory, West and East Germany together, though they were two separate states then.
3. China: until the exchange rates were unified in 1994 the yuan's official rate was set by the state, and the figures before 1978 come from a planned economy, so China's early dollar GDP and ranks are rough.
4. Exchange rates: in current dollars each economy is converted at that year's exchange rate, so ranks move with currencies as well as with output. Inflation does not change the ranks: all economies of a year are counted in dollars of that year.
5. Coverage: each year ranks only the economies with data for that year (111 in 1960, 195 in 2025); a line breaks where an economy has no data.
6. Purchasing power parity: GDP at PPP (GDP per person at PPP times the population) starts in 1990. It removes differences in price levels, which lifts economies where goods and services are cheap.
7. IMF: the years after the World Bank's latest (2025) are IMF estimates and forecasts (World Economic Outlook, October 2026), dashed and shaded on the chart. For the same year the two sources differ a little (in 2025, by up to 2.3% in current dollars and 4.2% at PPP for the 15 largest), so part of a change in rank after 2025 can come from the switch of source.