Today, Political Calculations is repeating it's previous exercise in examining the GDP rankings of the nations surrounding the Pacific Ocean, but updating the data for 2004! One unique wrinkle - instead of adding the U.S. and Canada as whole nations, we're only looking at the equivalent GSP and GDP data for the Pacific Ocean bordering states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia!
The data in the table below has been adjusted for each country's Purchasing Power Parity, which takes into account how much an individual can buy within a country along with the currency exchange rate between the individual country's currency and the U.S. dollar. This allows for a more direct comparison between countries with different rates of exchange in their currencies, as well as what their currencies are capable of buying within their own countries. As a final note, the individual U.S. state GSP data has not been adjusted this way.
| 2004 Pacific Rim GDP-PPP, Population and GDP-PPP per Capita |
|---|
| Country/Territory | GDP-PPP ($USD billions) | Population (2004 est.) | GDP-PPP per Capita |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 611.7 | 19913144 | 30718 |
| Bangladesh | 275.7 | 141340476 | 1951 |
| Bhutan | 2.9 | 2185569 | 1327 |
| Brunei | 6.8 | 365251 | 18732 |
| Cambodia | 27.0 | 13363421 | 2020 |
| Canada - British Columbia | 124.7 | 4201867 | 29672 |
| Chile | 169.1 | 15823957 | 10686 |
| China | 7262.0 | 1298847624 | 5591 |
| Colombia | 281.1 | 42310775 | 6644 |
| Cook Islands | 0.1 | 21200 | 4953 |
| Costa Rica | 38.0 | 3956507 | 9597 |
| East Timor | 0.4 | 1019252 | 363 |
| Ecuador | 49.5 | 13212742 | 3747 |
| El Salvador | 32.4 | 6587541 | 4911 |
| Fiji | 5.2 | 880874 | 5873 |
| French Polynesia | 4.6 | 266339 | 17196 |
| Guam | 3.2 | 166090 | 19267 |
| Guatemala | 59.5 | 14280596 | 4164 |
| Honduras | 18.8 | 6823568 | 2754 |
| Hong Kong | 234.5 | 6855125 | 34208 |
| India | 3319.0 | 1065070607 | 3116 |
| Indonesia | 827.4 | 238452952 | 3470 |
| Japan | 3745.0 | 127333002 | 29411 |
| Kiribati | 0.1 | 100798 | 784 |
| Korea, North | 40.0 | 22697553 | 1762 |
| Korea, South | 925.1 | 48598175 | 19036 |
| Laos | 11.3 | 6068117 | 1859 |
| Macau | 9.1 | 445286 | 20436 |
| Malaysia | 229.3 | 23522482 | 9748 |
| Maldives | 1.3 | 339330 | 3684 |
| Marshall Islands | 0.1 | 57738 | 1992 |
| Mexico | 1006.0 | 104959594 | 9585 |
| Micronesia, Federated States of | 0.3 | 108155 | 2561 |
| Nauru | 0.1 | 12809 | 4684 |
| New Caledonia | 3.2 | 213679 | 14779 |
| New Zealand | 92.5 | 3993817 | 23163 |
| Niue | 0.0 | 2156 | 3525 |
| Northern Mariana Islands | 0.9 | 78252 | 11501 |
| Pakistan | 347.3 | 159196336 | 2182 |
| Palau | 0.2 | 20016 | 8693 |
| Panama | 20.6 | 3000463 | 6856 |
| Papua New Guinea | 12.0 | 5420280 | 2212 |
| Peru | 155.3 | 27544305 | 5638 |
| Philippines | 430.6 | 86241697 | 4993 |
| Russia | 1408.0 | 143782338 | 9793 |
| Samoa | 1.0 | 177714 | 5627 |
| Singapore | 120.9 | 4353893 | 27768 |
| Solomon Islands | 0.8 | 523617 | 1528 |
| Sri Lanka | 80.6 | 19905165 | 4048 |
| Taiwan | 576.2 | 22749838 | 25328 |
| Thailand | 524.8 | 64965523 | 8078 |
| Tokelau | 0.0 | 1405 | 1068 |
| Tonga | 0.2 | 110237 | 2213 |
| Tuvalu | 0.0 | 11468 | 1064 |
| US - Alaska | 34.0 | 655435 | 51874 |
| US - California | 1550.8 | 35893799 | 43205 |
| US - Hawaii | 50.3 | 1262840 | 39848 |
| US - Oregon | 128.1 | 3594586 | 35637 |
| US - Washington | 261.5 | 6203788 | 42152 |
| Vanuatu | 0.6 | 202609 | 2863 |
| Vietnam | 227.2 | 82689518 | 2748 |
| Wallis and Futuna | 0.1 | 15880 | 3778 |
| Pacific Rim (All) | 25348.6 | 3902999170 | 6495 |
The Richest and Poorest Nations Around the Pacific Rim
The west coast U.S. states of Alaska, California, Washington, Hawaii and Oregon top the list, followed by Hong Kong, Australia, the Canadian province of British Columbia, Japan and Singapore. If the U.S. and Canada are taken as whole nations, the top of the list as measured by GDP-PPP per Capita would be the United States ($40099), Hong Kong, Canada ($31469), Australia, Japan and Singapore.
The poorest nation in the Pacific Rim is the recently independent East Timor, followed by tiny nation of Kiribati (formerly, and perhaps better known as the Gilbert Islands.)
Data Sources:
GDP-PPP Data: 2004 GDP-PPP Data for Individual Nations
U.S. Individual GSP Data: 2004 GSP for U.S. States
Canada Individual Province GDP Data: Statistics Canada Releases Revised 2001-2004 GDP Data (170KB PDF document). Note: The GDP data for British Columbia was presented in raw 2004 Canadian dollars. It was converted to GDP-PPP (in 2004 US dollars) in the table above by multiplying the raw GDP figure by 79.29%, which was derived by dividing the GDP-PPP figure for Canada ($1.023 trillion USD) by the nation's raw GDP ($1.290 trillion CAD).
Population Data: July 2004 Population Estimates
GSP and GDP per Capita: This data was calculated by simply dividing the published GDP-PPP data by each nation's, state's or territory's population estimate for July 2004.
Previously on Political Calculations
2004 Economic and Population Data
- GDP Rankings in Muslim Nations
- 2004 GDP Rankings for Asia
- European Union 2004 GDP Rankings
- GDP in Africa: 2004
- GDP Rankings of the Americas: 2004 Edition
- EU vs US: Two Years of Economic Data Later....