Countries by Adjusted savings: consumption of fixed capital (current US$)

Ranking 2021

Analysis

Consumption of fixed capital measures the replacement value of capital used up in the process of production. As defined in the source data: 'Consumption of fixed capital represents the replacement value of capital used up in the process of production. This indicator is expressed in current prices, meaning no adjustment has been made to account for price changes over time. This indicator is expressed in United States dollars.' Values are absolute totals in current US dollars, not adjusted for inflation. Higher values indicate greater total capital consumption, which generally corresponds to larger economies with more extensive productive infrastructure. The dataset covers 205 countries, with 194 of 205 (94.6%) reporting data for the reference year 2021, and 201 of 205 (98.0%) having data from within the last seven years. All 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality figures. The viability checks identified 29 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the range runs from $6,679,554.77 to $4,661,660,943,961.02, a spread of approximately 69,789,895 percent.

The top ten rankings are dominated by the world's largest economies by output and capital stock. China (rank 1) recorded $4.66 trillion, United States (rank 2) $3.83 trillion, and Japan (rank 3) $1.29 trillion. Germany (rank 4, $833.75 billion), France (rank 5, $571.56 billion), and the United Kingdom (rank 6, $474.35 billion) follow. India (rank 8, $379.11 billion) and Korea, Rep. (rank 9, $378.07 billion) are nearly level, separated by just over $1 billion. Canada (rank 10, $325.77 billion) and Brazil (rank 11, $296.64 billion) round out the top tier. These high rankings reflect the large aggregate capital bases characteristic of economies with extensive manufacturing, infrastructure, and services sectors.

Ireland (rank 19, $132.53 billion) ranks above Turkiye (rank 20, $123.74 billion) despite Ireland's much smaller population and GDP, reflecting the presence of large foreign-owned capital assets registered in Ireland that inflate its fixed capital base. Venezuela (rank 21, $117.33 billion) appears ahead of Belgium (rank 22, $115.77 billion) and Sweden (rank 23, $110.24 billion), notable given Venezuela's economic contraction in recent years. In the middle ranks, Singapore (rank 31, $72.71 billion) and Hong Kong SAR, China (rank 33, $70.59 billion) both exceed Denmark (rank 34, $66.76 billion), illustrating how capital-intensive city economies can surpass larger territorial states. At the lower end, countries such as Tuvalu (rank 205, $6.68 million), Kiribati (rank 204, $16.27 million), and Nauru (rank 203, $19.61 million) record the smallest values, consistent with their very small populations and limited productive capital.

Several limitations apply to this metric. Because values are in current US dollars with no inflation adjustment, cross-year comparisons can be distorted by price-level changes. Exchange rate movements affect the dollar-denominated values of countries whose capital is valued in other currencies, which can shift rankings independently of real changes in capital consumption. The metric measures total absolute value, not per-capita or intensity figures, so larger countries will systematically rank higher regardless of capital efficiency. Reporting practices for fixed capital vary across national statistical systems, and the presence of large foreign-owned assets in some jurisdictions, such as Ireland, can produce values that do not straightforwardly represent domestic productive capacity. The 29 extreme outliers flagged at the 3-sigma threshold warrant particular scrutiny when using these figures for cross-country comparison.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code NY.ADJ.DKAP.CD, for the reference year 2021. The metric is defined as follows: 'Consumption of fixed capital represents the replacement value of capital used up in the process of production. This indicator is expressed in current prices, meaning no adjustment has been made to account for price changes over time. This indicator is expressed in United States dollars.' Rankings cover 205 countries. Of these, 194 of 205 (94.6%) reported data for 2021, and 201 of 205 (98.0%) have data from within the last seven years. All datapoints (100%) are classified as official quality, exceeding the 70% threshold. The viability check identified 29 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. Year-over-year average volatility is 10.5%, well below the 50% concern threshold. The value range spans from $6,679,554.77 (Tuvalu, rank 205) to $4,661,660,943,961.02 (China, rank 1), a spread of approximately 69,789,895 percent. Values are absolute totals in current US dollars; no per-capita or purchasing-power adjustment is applied.

Sources

• World Bank