Countries Resized by Economic Size (0–2026)

What would the world look like if countries were sized by their economies instead of their land? Watch the map reshape over two thousand years, alongside a top-15 ranking of the largest economies.

Press play or drag the timeline to explore the rise of industrial economies and the changing balance between Asia, Europe and the Americas. Point to a country, or choose one from the map’s lookup, to see its estimated economic output. Open fullscreen for a closer look.

What the numbers mean

The measure is total GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP), expressed on a linked 2011 international-dollar scale. PPP adjusts for differences in local prices, making the size of economies more comparable. These are not nominal US-dollar figures, personal wealth, or GDP per person.

The map uses present-day borders and flags throughout, including for ancient dates. Early figures therefore represent reconstructed economic activity within today’s territories—not the countries or empires that existed at the time. The opening “0 AD” is a display convention using the year-1 benchmark.

About the data

This interactive uses the same prepared dataset and cartogram as our video, covering 229 countries and territories. Early regional estimates from the Maddison Database are allocated to modern territories with historical population weights and linked to the Maddison Project Database 2023. The reconstruction gradually transitions to modern country series between 1820 and 1950. IMF real GDP growth estimates and projections extend the series after 2022 to 2026.

Ancient and medieval estimates are sparse and uncertain. Missing observations use documented allocations and proxies; the smooth motion between observations is interpolation, not a record of annual measurements. The 2026 values are projections. Comparisons across the entire timeline should be read as a reconstruction of broad economic change.

Country areas follow their share of the modelled world economy. A small minimum area keeps tiny economies visible, so the smallest shapes are deliberately exaggerated. The chart shows their underlying values. Intermediate map shapes are animated transitions between cartogram frames.

Sources and credits

• Maddison Project Database 2023 and Maddison Database 2010.
• Historical population inputs: Our World in Data.
• Recent growth estimates and projections: IMF World Economic Outlook.
• Map boundaries: Natural Earth, public domain.
• Cartogram method: Gastner, Seguy and More, Fast flow-based algorithm for creating density-equalizing map projections.

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