About the World Economy

Source: T. Rowe Price Report Number 97, Fall 2007

• Global growth has averaged more than 5% annually for the past
three years, the highest rate since the early 1970s, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• This global boom largely has been driven by emerging market
growth rates exceeding 7% as these regions rapidly replicate the
industrial revolution that began to sweep through the developed
world some 200 years ago.
• Emerging markets make up less than one-third of total world gross
domestic product (GDP), but they now account for more than half of
GDP growth, according to IMF data. As these markets become more
liquid and generate strong returns, their relative importance grows.
• Global trade as a percentage of world GDP has jumped from 30%
in the 1980s to more than 50%, and its volume has tripled since
1990, according to Alan Levenson, T. Rowe Price’s chief economist.