Countries by Gross capital formation (current US$)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

Gross capital formation measures the total value of acquisitions less disposals of produced assets used for fixed capital formation, inventories, or valuables. As the World Bank source note states: '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.' The data covers 178 countries drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code NE.GDI.TOTL.CD), with 97.8% of entries sourced from the last seven years and 100% classified as official data. The reference year is 2024, though 87.1% of entries reflect data specifically from that year. Twenty extreme outliers were identified at the 3-sigma threshold.

The top five countries — China ($7.61T, rank 1), the United States ($6.28T, rank 2), India ($1.29T, rank 3), Japan ($1.05T, rank 4), and Germany ($1.01T, rank 5) — account for a disproportionate share of total global capital formation. The next tier includes the United Kingdom ($704.8B, rank 6), France ($679.9B, rank 7), Russia ($571.7B, rank 8), South Korea ($562.1B, rank 9), and Italy ($537.5B, rank 10). High absolute values in this metric are closely associated with large population size, high GDP, and industrial scale.

Several middle-ranking entries stand out. Iran ranks 21st at $210.8 billion, placing it above Belgium (rank 22, $164.5B) and Sweden (rank 24, $153.1B). Viet Nam ranks 25th at $145.6 billion, ahead of the United Arab Emirates (rank 26, $139.2B) and Israel (rank 28, $126.6B). At the lower end, Marshall Islands ranks 177th at $60.2 million and Kiribati ranks 176th at $74.6 million, while Djibouti sits last at $10.5 million. Puerto Rico (US) appears at rank 76 with $17.9 billion as a separate entry from the United States.

Because values are expressed in current US dollars with no inflation adjustment, rankings can shift over time due to currency fluctuations or price changes rather than real changes in investment activity. Countries with high inflation or depreciating currencies may see nominal values rise or fall independently of actual capital formation. The metric captures acquisitions less disposals in aggregate and does not distinguish between types of assets or the quality and productivity of investment. Reporting practices vary across economies, and data availability for 2024 specifically is incomplete for 23 of the 178 countries, which rely on earlier-year estimates.

Methodology

Data is sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code NE.GDI.TOTL.CD, for the reference year 2024. The metric covers 178 countries. Per the source note, gross capital formation 'includes acquisitions less disposals of produced assets for purposes of fixed capital formation, inventories or valuables. 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.' Coverage: 174 of 178 countries (97.8%) have data from the last seven years; 155 of 178 (87.1%) report data specifically for 2024. All 178 datapoints are classified as official quality. Twenty extreme outliers were identified using a 3-sigma threshold. The value range spans from $10,474,576 (Djibouti) to $7,612,076,208,223 (China), a spread of over 72.6 million percent. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 18.9%.

Sources

• World Bank