China surpasses Japan as world's second biggest economy
20 Aug '10
1 min read
China's total economic output in the second quarter, surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest economy, according to the data released by Japan.
Japanese GDP (gross domestic product) registered US $1.28 trillion in the second quarter of this year, while China's GDP recorded US $1.33 trillion.
As Japan's quarterly GDP growth rate was only 0.4 percent, its annual growth rate is expected to be lower; leading to possibilities that Chinese GDP could surpass that of Japan in 2010.
However, many economists say China is still a "poor country" with per capita GDP ranking of around 100 in the world. China's per capita GDP is only one-tenth of Japan.
So the immediate task before the Chinese government is to enhance the level of per capita GDP as soon as possible, by ensuring rapid economic development.