Asian economic rankings

[Hugh Jørgen]

South Korea may soon be richer than Japan

FOR years, Japan was Asia’s richest and most powerful economy. It was the first Asian economy to industrialise, and the emerging Asian tigers—Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and later China—merely followed in its tracks. Now, however, Japan is steadily being overtaken. China’s economy is now bigger than Japan’s, but less noticed is the fact that Asia’s so-called newly industrialised economies are becoming richer than Japan. Most economists reckon that the best way to compare living standards is to take GDP per person measured at purchasing-power parity, which adjusts for differences in the cost of living in each country. On this gauge, Japan was overtaken by Singapore in 1993, by Hong Kong in 1997 and by Taiwan in 2010. But the most humbling re-ranking will be when South Korea becomes richer than Japan. The latest forecasts from the IMF suggest that this could happen within five years. That would be a remarkable turnabout. In 1980 South Korea’s GDP per person was barely a quarter the level of Japan’s...

[Big Booger]

And when is Chinese turn to be king?

[FG Lurker]

And when is Chinese turn to be king?

On a PPP GDP per capita rating? Not for a very, very long time.

[Russell]

South Korea may soon be richer than Japan

Time for unification with the North...

[IparryU]

South Korea may soon be richer than Japan

Time for unification with the North...

Yikes... well... Samsung must be doing their job!

[chokonen888]

South Korea may soon be richer than Japan

Time for unification with the North...

hahaha, and watch the wealth get redistributed?