A new series looking at Fun Facts! about US and World economies. I am starting with something simple: In 2009, 50% of the world’s 6.8 billion people lived in just 6 countries: China, India, United States, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan.
If you want to look up the population for the rest for the world try the World Bank's data tool.
In honor of the Super Bowl, I am posting Sports Illustrated's Fortunate 50 top-earning American athletes (earnings include salary, winnings, bonuses, and endorsements). However, only one of the players in today's game made the list, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, Rank: 47.
I found a nice table of this data on SportsColumn.com. Salaries are based on current or most recently completed seasons (exception: 2007 for NFL). For winnings-based sports (auto racing, golf, tennis), 2006 calendar year amounts used.
I am comparing the GDP per Capita of the United States with Japan, India, China, and Indonesia over the last 500 years. (GDP per Capita for each country is in 1990 international Geary-Khamis dollars, calculated from purchasing power parities (PPPs) of currencies and average prices of commodities.) Data estimates for the population from Angus Maddison Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Groningen.
