World GDP Performance in 2011

According to a World Bank tabulation (link), of 175 countries for which 2011 results were available, 14 (8%) had negative GDP growth, 33 (18.9%) had anemic growth under 2 percent, and 128 (73.1%) had growth greater than 2 percent and up to a maximum  of 20.7 percent.

So where does the United States fall—and who is the winner? Well, the United States had an annual GDP growth of 1.7 percent in 2011; therefore we fell into the anemic category. The best performer in that category was Belgium (1.92%), the worst was the United Kingdom (0.65%). This category also held such eminent names as Australia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, and Spain.

The biggest loser in the negative growth category was Yemen (-10.48%), the best performing was Croatia (-0.04%), and the category included Greece, Ireland, and Japan.

And the winner among the strongly growing categories was—Macau SAR: 20.7 percent. So where and what is that realm? It is a part of China. The SAR stands for Special Administrative Region. Macao is one of two, the other is Hong Kong (growth in 2011 of 5.16%). Macau consists of three parts, a peninsula and two islands, all connected by big bridges; Macau is, in effect, invisible when you look at a map of China. It juts into the South China Sea, a close south-eastern neighbor of Hong Kong.

So who was second in the race? Qatar (18.8%). And third? Mongolia (17.3%). Do you feel “left behind?” And does the great British Empire, of which we once were a part, seem to be sinking as the water table rises with the spread of global, ah, warming? Or did I just pick a bad year?
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Map credit: Wikipeadia (link).