China has become the fourth largest global economy with a total GDP of US$ 2,229 billion, which surpasses Italy and France and slightly exceeds Britain, according to the 2005 Global GDP Situation, issued by the World Bank on Tuesday.

The World Bank that is located in Washington announces the GDP situation of dominant global countries once a year. The World Bank's list of countries has become an important reference for various countries to know their economic situations owing to the public data provided by their governments.

Among the 183 countries and areas in the newest regions, the United States is still the biggest economy with a gross national product of US$ 12,455 billion. It is ranked higher than Japan which takes second place with US$ 4,505 billion. Germany is situated in third place, and China follows closely after.

Compared with the year 2004, China has moved up a place in 2005, whilst Brazil has replaced India in tenth place. China ranks seventh place after Italy, France and Britain in 2004.

In 2005, China exceeded Britain by 1.8% with incremental rates of 9.9%. China with her total GDP quantity of US$ 2,229 billion surpassed Britain with her total GDP of US$ 2,192 billion.

In fact, the GDP in 2005 announced by National Statistics Bureau of China has been predicted to surpass Britain to become the fourth largest global economy. It is the first time that the authoritative data from the World Bank has confirmed this forecast.

Again speaking of the situation of the rich and poor, China's GDP per capita which is only US$ 1,740 and ranks 128th place, has however still had no obvious change since last year.

By People's Daily Online