May 31, 2020 — The World Bank on May 19, as it does every six years, released the results of the most recent International Comparison Program (ICP), which measures price levels and GDPs across 176 countries. The new results are striking. It is surprising that they have received almost no attention so far, perhaps overshadowed by all things coronavirus.
For the first time, the ICP shows China’s total real income as slightly larger than the US. It reports that China’s GDP was $19,617 billion in 2017, in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, while the United States’ GDP stood at $19,519 billion.