Wealth Year 1900
Produced by the SASI group (Sheffield) and Mark Newman (Michigan)
By the 1900s Western Europe had
experienced an industrial revolution.
Workers who may previously have
performed all stages of a production
process in their own homes were now
in mechanised factories with a greater
division of labour. This increased
efficiency and therefore output.
In the period between 1500 to 1900
the world average of Gross Domestic
Product per person had doubled. The
world population had also risen over
this period, thus the rise in total Gross
Domestic Product was even greater
than the per person increases. In 1900
the world total was US$2 trillion when
expressed in 1990 purchasing power
parity.
Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide Gross
Domestic Product measured in US$ equalised for
purchasing power parity that was produced there in 1900.
Land area
Technical notes
• Data are from Angus Maddison’s 2003 The World
Economy.
• Gross Domestic Product is measured in Purchasing
Power Parity (PPP) US$, thus PPP US$1 has the
same purchasing power in every territory. This
PPP is in 1990 prices.
• See website for further information.
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Territory
United Kingdom
New Zealand
United States
Australia
Switzerland
Belgium
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Canada
Value
4492
4298
4091
4013
3833
3731
3424
3017
2985
2911
Rank
141
142
143
165
169
170
188
189
190
193
Territory
Myanmar
Albania
Brazil
Bangladesh
India
Somalia
Mongolia
China
Nepal
Dem Republic Congo
Value
685
685
678
607
599
557
553
545
539
483
TIMELINE OF WORLD WEALTH
annual gross domestic product in US$ per
person purchasing power parity by region
TOP TEN WEALTHIEST AND OTHER NOTABLE RATES OF WEALTH PER PERSON IN YEAR 1900
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
year of current era
1400 1600
1800
2000
US$ of Gross Domestic Product in purchasing power parity per person in 1900*
“The industrial revolution ... enormously increased the capacity of some groups, mostly Europeans at first, to produce goods
and services. It greatly altered the distribution of wealth and poverty around the world ...” National Centre for History, 2006
www.worldmapper.org
© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan)
Map161