Countries by Gross national expenditure (constant 2015 US$)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

Gross national expenditure measures the combined value of household final consumption expenditure, general government final consumption expenditure, and gross capital formation. All values are expressed in constant 2015 US dollars, meaning the series has been adjusted to account for price changes over time. The ranking covers 175 countries, with 89.7% of entries drawing from data within the last seven years and 100% of datapoints rated as official quality. The data year is 2024, though only 82.3% of countries have figures from that specific year. Twenty extreme outliers were identified at the 3-sigma threshold, and the range spans from $326.9 million to $23.75 trillion, a spread of over 7.2 million percent.

The top of the ranking is dominated by large, high-income economies. The United States (rank 1, $23.75 trillion) and China (rank 2, $17.48 trillion) are well ahead of all others. Japan ranks third at $4.57 trillion, followed closely by India (rank 4, $3.59 trillion) and Germany (rank 5, $3.55 trillion). The United Kingdom (rank 6, $3.35 trillion) and France (rank 7, $2.69 trillion) round out the upper tier. High rankings generally reflect large populations, high income levels, or both, since each component of this aggregate scales with overall economic size.

Notable placements appear through the middle and lower portions of the ranking. Iran (rank 25, $511.5 billion) and Egypt (rank 26, $504.6 billion) rank above the United Arab Emirates (rank 29, $443.1 billion) despite differing economic profiles. Vietnam (rank 33, $400.5 billion) and Colombia (rank 34, $398.0 billion) are nearly equal to Austria (rank 35, $398.0 billion). At the lower end, small island economies such as Tonga (rank 172, $772 million), Kiribati (rank 173, $518 million), and Palau (rank 174, $345 million) record values below $1 billion, while territories including Puerto Rico (rank 65, $101.5 billion) and Macao SAR, China (rank 110, $25.3 billion) appear alongside sovereign states.

Several limitations apply to this metric. Constant 2015 dollar conversion introduces variability depending on deflator quality and exchange rate methodology in each country. Countries with significant informal economies may underreport household consumption. Data for some lower-ranked countries is estimated or extrapolated rather than drawn from the reference year, as the 82.3% consistency figure for 2024 confirms. Territories and non-sovereign entities such as Puerto Rico, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Bermuda, Aruba, Curacao, Greenland, Faroe Islands, and West Bank and Gaza are included alongside sovereign states, which complicates direct comparisons. Venezuela (rank 103, $31.4 billion) and Sudan (rank 83, $53.9 billion) may also reflect data reliability issues rather than true economic conditions.

Methodology

This ranking uses World Bank World Development Indicators indicator code NE.DAB.TOTL.KD, covering 175 countries with a data reference year of 2024. As defined in the source note: gross national expenditure is the sum of household final consumption expenditure, general government final consumption expenditure, and gross capital formation; this indicator is expressed in constant prices, meaning the series has been adjusted to account for price changes over time; the reference year for this adjustment is 2015; and this indicator is expressed in United States dollars. Coverage stands at 175 countries above the 80-country threshold, with 89.7% of entries drawn from data within the last seven years. All 100% of datapoints carry official data quality status. Consistency for the 2024 data year is 82.3%, meaning some values are drawn from prior years. Twenty extreme outliers were flagged at the 3-sigma threshold. The value range runs from $326.9 million (Marshall Islands) to $23.75 trillion (United States), a spread of approximately 7.26 million percent. Non-sovereign territories are included in the dataset, which affects cross-country comparability.

Sources

• World Bank