--- description: The Eastern superpower will soon outshine the U.S. as the world's largest economy, though sometimes size isn't all that matters title: When Will China’s Economy Overtake the U.S.’s? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [The Answers Issue](/tag/the-answers-issue/) ## The Answers Issue Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # When Will China's Economy Overtake the U.S.'s? by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 28, 2014 11:03 AM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 28, 2014 11:03 AM CUT TOP FIVE COUNTRIES BY GLOBAL SHARE OF GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT Based on purchasing-power parity \[The following text appears within a chart. Please see your hard copy for actual chart.\] 1980 ’85 ’90 ’95 2000 ’05 ’10 ’15 ’19 U.S. CHINA JAPAN GERMANY INDIA 0 5 10 15 20 2019 The year China’s economy will become larger than the U.S.’s (at about 18% of world share) CHINA’S POPULATION WILL REMAIN POOR $16,000 Projected per capita GDP in 2019, based on purchasing-power parity, compared with a projected $66,000 in the U.S. ITS MANUFACTURING COSTS WILL RISE 102% Projected cost of manufacturing in China, compared with that in the U.S. in 2018, up from 96% of the U.S. cost now, in part because of rapidly rising wages AND ITS GROWTH WILL NEGATIVELY IMPACT THE ENVIRONMENT 31% Projected share of global CO2 emissions in 2019, compared with 15% from the U.S. SOURCES: IMF; BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP; U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3204274/when-will-chinas-economy-overtake-the-u-s-s/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3204274/when-will-chinas-economy-overtake-the-u-s-s/"},"headline":"When Will China's Economy Overtake the U.S.'s?","datePublished":"2014-08-28T11:03:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:54:02.829Z","description":"The Eastern superpower will soon outshine the U.S. as the world's largest economy, though sometimes size isn't all that matters","url":"https://time.com/3204274/when-will-chinas-economy-overtake-the-u-s-s/","keywords":["The Answers Issue"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/the-answers-issue/","name":"The Answers Issue"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3204274/when-will-chinas-economy-overtake-the-u-s-s/","name":"When Will China's Economy Overtake the U.S.'s?"}}]}] ```