The graphs and plots on this page propose a way to visualise the data collected by Maddison World Economy project. The data used are from the 2018 update. The purpose of this project is to collect information about economy over the years for the maximum number of countries. All the graphs and maps, created with Plotly and Python, are interactive. Some maps contain animation that are playing automatically. Either leave the animation playing, pause and play it using the "Pause" and "Play" buttons or choose the year using the slider.
Sources: The World Economy, Data source

The 169 countries highlighted in blue are considered in the 2018 Maddison World Economy Report. 193 countries are member states of the United Nations in 2019. Some countries had different territory size or different name over the history (i.e. Former Yugoslavia and USSR are used in the report).

The data availability range from the year 1 AD to 2016 AD. The frequency of years increases over the time, the first 5 years available are 1, 730, 1000, 1150 and 1280. 1280 years of history are only covered by 5 years of data. From 1280, data are available every years however, the number of countries remains low until the 19th century with less than 10 countries. From 1950, 169 countries are present in the report. Countries are differently represented over the years, the top 3 most represented countries are Sweden (719 occurrences), France (709 occurrences) and Poland (579 occurrences). The figure below highlights the countries availability over the years.

Legend

cgdppc: Real GDP per capita in 2011US$, multiple benchmarks (suitable for cross-country income comparisons)

rgdpnapc: Real GDP per capita in 2011US$, 2011 benchmark (suitable for cross-country growth comparisons)

Mind the y axis which uses log scale. The global GDP is growing over the time from the end of the 13th century. The previous section showed that the number of countries increases as the time hence the GDP boost could be biaised by the increasing number of countries. The graph on the right hand side highlights the GDP averaged per country. It indicates between the 13th century and the 18th century that the GDP averaged is almost constant and does not increasing has much as on the left hand side graph. Then, from the 18th century the GDP averaged clearly increases, it can still be biaised by the varying number of countries. However, from 1950 to 2016 the number of countries is constant (169) and the GDP grows by around 7 fold. The map below allows to scroll over the year to visualise and compare the GDP per country.

Mind the y axis which uses log scale. The total population is growing over the time with an acceleration from the 19th century. Again, the first section showed that the number of countries increases as the time hence the population boost could be biaised by the increasing number of countries. The graph on the right hand side highlights the population averaged per country. It still indicates a population increasing. From 1821 to 2016, five trends can be seen, they represent sequences of years with same amount of countries. Except for the second one (1851 to 1869), all the other periods have an averaged population increasing. The last two periods (1900 to 1949 and 1950 to 2016), and especially the last one, emphasize a population growing by around 3 fold. The map below allows to scroll over the year and visualise and compare the population per country.

Mind the x and y axis which use log scale. For each year, the population and GDP per country is displayed when both population and GDP are available. Countries are colored by continents. When scrolling over the years, it can be seen the impacts of crisis (i.e. wars) on the economy and population. On the year 2016, the European countries are globally the wealthiest. On the opposite side, the African countries are globally the poorest. Asian countries sit in between with some countries comparable to European's and some other similar as Asia's.

Mind the y axis which uses log scale. France has been chosen as it is one of the top 3 most represented countries. Time period range from 1820 to 2016 where data is available every year. The GDP per capita increases from US$1,442 to US$38,758 (about 27 fold). The population has been doubled, 31 million to 67 million inhabitants within almost 200 years. The effect of the two world wars can be seen on the population and the economy. The first world war reduced the population by about 3 millions inhabitants and the economy by about 30% (US$4,745 to US$3,348) while the second world war had lead to the death of around 2 millions of persons and the reduction of about 45% (US$6,058 to US$3,337) of the economy.