The #1 reason to be bullish on the global economy
There is hope for the global economy. Asian shoppers queue at Printemps department store in Paris on Jan. 23, 2012.
Europe stumbles, China slows, and the U.S. struggles to regain its economic footing. But despite all the talk of deleveraging, there's just one thing we should keep in mind before we get too pessimistic about prospects for the global economy:
The world is growing like crazy.
Just check out this chart from the Economist (via economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin), which delineates the percentage of economic output amassed in the last two thousand years by century, adjusted for inflation. Probably unsurprisingly, humans produced 55% of modern history's GDP in all 100 years of the 20th century.
More astonishing is that we've already produced 23% of economic output in the common era in the 21st century—and we're only on our twelfth year!
Bottom line: boom and bust cycles may come and go, but the global economy is still growing exponentially.
Simone Foxman is a reporter for Business Insider's Money Game vertical.
More from our partner Business Insider:
Business Insider: Your iPhone May Have Been Built By 13 Year-Olds
Business Insider: Here's Facebook's Advertising Revenue By Year
Business Insider: Facebook's First 20 Employees: Where Are They Now?
Business Insider: New Alliance Of Models Reveals Scary Industry Statistics
Business Insider: Next Apple iOS May Have Facebook Built-in
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.