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Five Biggest Economies by Continent

For each continent, try to guess the five countries that have the largest economies.
2023 forecast. World Economic Outlook (April 2023 edition). More info here.
In trillions of U.S. dollars. Purchasing Power Parity method.
If a country is in two continents, we adjust the GDP accordingly
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: April 22, 2023
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First submittedFebruary 11, 2016
Times taken142,901
Average score86.7%
Rating4.97
3:00
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Africa
1.80
Egypt
1.37
Nigeria
0.990
South Africa
0.621
Algeria
0.393
Ethiopia
 
 
Asia
33.0
China
13.0
India
6.46
Japan
4.40
Indonesia
3.04
Turkey
Europe
5.55
Germany
3.84
Russia
3.83
United Kingdom
3.72
France
3.20
Italy
 
 
North America
26.9
United States
3.31
Mexico
2.39
Canada
.278
Dominican Republic
.201
Guatemala
Oceania
1.72
Australia
0.279
New Zealand
0.0422
Papua New Guinea
0.0144
Fiji
0.00179
Solomon Islands
 
 
South America
4.02
Brazil
1.28
Argentina
1.01
Colombia
0.596
Chile
0.557
Peru
+32
Level 92
Feb 11, 2016
Almost didn't get the 4th in Asia, I thought it was going to be one of the middle eastern countries, like Saudi Arabia, Iran, or maybe Turkey.
+5
Level 49
Feb 11, 2016
You should take my quiz, World Superpowers in 2050. It preps well for this. You'll see patterns.
+2
Level 70
Apr 3, 2021
same, i was thinking of middle east and pakistan, afghanistan, turkey. surprised to see the 4th country, have seen many stories about poverty there
+3
Level 32
Jun 16, 2021
As an indonesian myself, and live mostly in island of java, our country is actually economically great, but i admit there is a big gap with the other island especially in outer isolated territory, where u probably hear that poverty news come from
+26
Level 64
Jun 16, 2021
You thought Afghanistan would be in the top 5 economies in Asia?
+2
Level 71
Apr 22, 2021
Even if it's poor, Indonesia has a huge population. Also, it seems to me that its economic growth has been pretty successful.
+1
Level 65
Feb 11, 2016
Thanks :)
+2
Level 61
Feb 19, 2016
Algeria surprised me.
+8
Level 82
Feb 19, 2016
Aside from Europe and Asia, it doesn't take much to crack the top 5 of any of these lists.
+3
Level 67
Feb 19, 2016
Other way around for me, Kalbahamut. It was easy to guess the main countries in Oceania and N. America, but the 4th and 5th nations were just me guessing countries in those continents. Whereas for Europe and Asia I got them all first time, as they're so dominant.
+11
Level 82
Feb 19, 2016
I wasn't saying anything about how easy they are to guess... just that being top 5 on any of the other continents isn't very impressive. Algeria's economy is tiny compared to Italy's or South Korea's, to say nothing of Cuba or the Solomon Islands. And, actually, I think those countries are harder to guess for that very reason. So you got my comment backwards...

just as an aside, though, the top 5 in Europe and Asia aren't *that* dominant. Saudi Arabia trails South Korea by less than 200 million. Spain trails Italy by about 500 million.

+3
Level 75
Apr 12, 2019
Using purchasing power parity generally means guessing the most populous countries. All forms of GDP measurement have problems, but PPP skews things to shrink the appearance of inequalities.
+1
Level 17
Feb 19, 2016
I guessed Algeria and got it.
+40
Level 62
Apr 18, 2017
Yes, that's how this website works.
+1
Level 39
Aug 10, 2020
I didn't quite have time to type "Algeria"! Ugh! Good quiz though.
+1
Level 17
Feb 19, 2016
I got 19/30. Some of them like Russia are really obvious.
+1
Level 63
Feb 19, 2016
I am surprised to see Angola ahead of Kenya.
+1
Level 57
Feb 19, 2016
Angola will fall back in 2015/16 with lower oil prices.
+1
Level 30
Aug 16, 2021
Angola will be more populous than Kenya by 2100
+1
Level 25
Feb 19, 2016
Im going to admit: I aced the Countries of the world quiz so I just named the biggest countries....still worked though(untimed)
+1
Level 78
Feb 19, 2016
Papua New Guinea is in Oceania, yet Indonesia is in Asia? Huh?
+5
Level 42
Feb 19, 2016
Indonesia is in considered to be part of both Asia and Oceania; however, it is usually considered to be part of Asia because its capital Jakarta is located in Asia. This is similar to Russia being counted as Europe rather than Asia due to Moscow and Turkey being counted as Asia rather than Europe due to Ankara.
+5
Level 42
Feb 19, 2016
In addition the vast majority of the populations and land areas of Indonesia and Turkey are located in Asia.
+1
Level 74
Feb 19, 2016
It's more a cultural and economic association...PNG was administered by Australia until 1975. There is no universally accepted dividing line between these regions
+3
Level 66
Nov 10, 2017
Politics, power and money tend to determine how these borders are drawn up, often with scant concern for the wishes of the indigenous peoples. There have been countless protests in Irian Jaya(West Papua) for independence, but they are always suppressed by the Indonesian military. A similar problem can be seen on Bougainville Island, which is culturally more akin to the Solomon Islands, but was made a part of Papua New Guinea so Australian mining companies could exploit it. Armed rebels took over an Australian mine there a few years back. East Timor is another example. They fought a war for independence largely ignored by Australia and the UN for 25 years. Easier to maintain the status quo, carve up the Timor Sea gas and oil reserves, and hope the problem goes away.
+2
Level 75
Feb 19, 2016
I totally blanked on Dominican Republic. I knew it, and I could think of Hispaniola, Santo Domingo, and Haiti, but the correct name just wouldn't connect to my typing fingers. Grrrr!
+1
Level 68
Feb 19, 2016
29/30. Ran out of time before I could type Nigeria.
+2
Level 43
Feb 19, 2016
needed more time!!
+1
Level 16
Feb 19, 2016
I'm surprised Germany was above Russia OG
+10
Level 63
Sep 28, 2016
Well cars are more expensive than Vodka.
+3
Level 56
May 18, 2017
I believe the UK actually has a larger economy than France by a majority of sources.
+1
Level 68
Jun 9, 2017
Algeria was like the one north african country I didn't guess...argh
+10
Level 90
Aug 25, 2017
I love that you've put together a "largest economy" quiz that includes both China and a country whose economy is 1/23,000th the size of China's.
+1
Level 53
Sep 18, 2021
That's bizarre. I never thought about it that way.
+2
Level 69
Aug 27, 2017
It was a little short on time, even though I knew most of the answers and hardly did any guessing…
+1
Level 61
Nov 10, 2017
I was about to guess Ethiopia but apparently, some part of my brain wanted me to believe Ethiopia was extremely poor when compared to other countries so I ignored it, completely forgetting its high population. Thanks, brain.
+1
Level 88
Nov 10, 2017
0.01 left :D
+1
Level 71
Nov 10, 2017
Would have thought that Venezuela wouldn't even be 5th in South America due to their turmoil.
+1
Level 58
Nov 26, 2017
Oil can give a lot of money, even to a country in turmoil
+1
Level 59
Nov 12, 2017
how do you make this kind of a quiz format?
+1
Level 40
Mar 3, 2018
Vamos República Dominicana.
+1
Level 44
Mar 23, 2018
lol missed an easy one.. facepalm
+1
Level 16
Aug 20, 2018
Turkey is in eu but is count as Asia
+2
Level 76
Apr 21, 2021
No, Turkey is not in the EU
+1
Level 75
Nov 20, 2018
25/30 and still missed Japan.
+2
Level 64
Mar 9, 2019
why the reset? has any country changed since last year or it was only the figures?
+1
Level 57
Mar 9, 2019
just right kind of tough to get 100%:))
+1
Level 34
Apr 12, 2019
Wait, is it by GDP or GNP? If its by GDP then China would be smaller than the United States. But if its GNP, then its switched. ?!?!?!!?
+1
Level ∞
Apr 12, 2019
As stated in the source it is GDP, purchasing power parity method.
+1
Level 41
Apr 13, 2019
How do you make it untimed? Still finished with 30/30 but in some quizzes find myself running out of time.
+1
Level 31
Apr 1, 2020
Phew. I remembered Japan and South Korea and the 8 last seconds. 30/30
+1
Level 61
Jun 1, 2020
I’m pretty sure that China is going through a heavy blow to its economy right now, due to Covid-19, sanctions and increased unemployment rates, due to this, I’m pretty sure the forecast of the economic measures will be quite obsolete despite this year

being 2020. But hey, they’re just hiding their weaknesses as of now. Just saying.

+1
Level 36
Jun 21, 2020
100%!! Came down to the last few seconds before I got papua new guinea
+2
Level 46
Sep 13, 2020
For Africa, I was writing the abbreviations for DRC but then it gave me dominican republic :D
+1
Level 58
Dec 19, 2020
Interesting how the only 2 continents that don't fall off from Trillions to Billions pretty quickly are Europe and Asia XD
+4
Level 75
Apr 3, 2021
Europe has a lot of money to make up for its lack of people, and Asia has a lot of people to make up for its lack of money.
+4
Level 73
Apr 22, 2021
UK and France must be interverted
+1
Level 57
Apr 22, 2021
Like this...
+1
Level 72
May 8, 2021
1:38 left with 30/30 on first try. Great!
+1
Level 63
Jun 16, 2021
Would you mind adding another minute on I had so many wrong guesses that I couldn't get around to North America
+1
Level 57
Jun 16, 2021
These figures are profoundly off. For instance: Japan has a GDP of over US $5 trillion while that of India is just US $2.8, but the quiz has it listed as over 10 trillion! Furthermore, South Korea's GDP is nearly $1.65 trillion and Indonesia's is under US $1.2 trillion.

These are just the Asian examples! Europe's numbers are also way off, with Russia being listed ahead of the UK and France despite their much higher GDPs in real life.

The WorldBank is my source for all of this. I suggest using it instead of whatever website where these bizarre figures were published.

+3
Level 56
Jun 16, 2021
Purchasing Power Parity. Which means that a few more things are playing into this e.g. the cost of living, etc.

This means that usually the numbers for "poorer" countries are higher. This is trying to reflect, especially if used as "per capita", how big the gaps between countries is when it comes to buying stuff. Not the best form of measurement but I like the idea

+2
Level 68
Jun 16, 2021
This quiz uses Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) not raw GDP
+1
Level ∞
Jun 16, 2021
As many have said, this quiz uses Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

It's a better measure, in my opinion. So how does it work?

Let's say there are two countries whose economy consists solely of producing apples. Both countries produce exactly one million apples, alike in every way. Which country has the bigger economy?

According to PPP, both countries have the same size economy since they both make the same number of apples. But according to your measure, nominal GDP, it depends on how much the currencies of each country are worth.

To me, PPP makes more sense intuitively. It also seems to do other things better as well. For instance, it's more consistent year over year, and it is more strongly correlated with life expectancy.

+2
Level 82
Sep 21, 2021
Except that no two countries produce exactly the same apples. There are differences in the value of the local currency, as well as differences in the type and quality of apples - how hardy they are, how easy they are to grow, the environment that they are growing in, differences in the transportation costs to get the apples to market due to many factors, differences in labor costs for growers/pickers/teamsters/vendors, differences in the quality of materials that go into fertilizer/pesticides/packaging, differences in the rigor of government health inspections or food safety standards which impact how much taxes one pays on the apple, differences in construction standards for the building in which the apples are stored or sold, and differences in the markets in which the apples are sold and the consumers that the apples are being sold to, and MORE. All of these things impact the value and end price of the apple in important ways. Ignoring them all produces nonsensical results.
+1
Level 82
Sep 21, 2021
PPP makes a lot of sense when comparing the average subsistence income for very poor people from place to place (which greatly impacts life expectancy). It makes some sense when looking at things like different countries' minimum wage. It makes absolutely no sense used to measure the size of an entire country's economy and using it for that is a gross misuse of the concept and not what it was originally intended for.
+2
Level 67
Sep 22, 2021
Wait, but an apple in war-torn Afghanistan is worth less than an apple in rock-solid London.

Or, am I thinking about this wrong?

+1
Level 56
Jun 17, 2021
I'm surprised by Ethiopia, I always thought they were a fairly poor country.
+1
Level 52
Sep 13, 2023
100 million people though
+1
Level 67
Jun 17, 2021
Forgot Solomon Islands and Indonesia
+1
Level 65
Jun 20, 2021
I guess there's a problem between France and UK numbers !
+3
Level 63
Sep 19, 2021
What about Antarctica?
+1
Level 61
Nov 11, 2021
How do you put the answers in different sections with their own headers?
+1
Level ∞
Nov 12, 2021
In Step 4, choose "Manual". Then, on the right side of the screen, under "Advanced", click "Format as Groups of Things".
+1
Level 74
Nov 12, 2021
The "more info here" link in the top of the quiz is not the correct link.
+2
Level ∞
Nov 12, 2021
Thank you. Fixed.
+1
Level 28
Nov 14, 2021
Most of the time, I think population wise, or size wise. Maybe this will help you too! ;)
+1
Level 49
Dec 16, 2021
Got stuck on the fourth one for Africa for a while, but finished with exactly a minute left!
+1
Level 52
Jan 14, 2022
india,s economy wont grow by 8 trillion in a year... plus its 2022 now so it is impossible
+1
Level 53
Jan 14, 2022
these gdp's are very wrong.
+1
Level 52
Sep 13, 2023
that's because it's PPP not GDP
+2
Level 47
Jun 22, 2022
Looking at PPP is just nonsense. GDP nominal is much more valuable.
+1
Level 48
Aug 10, 2022
only one gap, Dominican republic. I didnt know they have a great economy
+1
Level 59
Apr 22, 2023
The thumbnail, tho.

XD

+2
Level 73
Apr 22, 2023
May I recommend changing the quiz to raw GDP rather than PPP?

PPP is a good tool when looking at GDP per capita as it better represents the purchasing power of the average citizen but in the context of comparing international economies it makes no sense.

The fact the say, the Chinese Yen has relatively more purchasing power in China than the dollar does in the USA doesn't make Yen anymore valuable to a third party country. Similarly, it doesn't make China's annual value creation any higher.

+2
Level ∞
Apr 23, 2023
People keep asking for this. I don't think you would like the result.

Did you know that, from May 2021 to October 2022, the Euro declined by 25% vs. the dollar? If we looked at nominal GDP this would mean that the economies of Europe absolutely cratered by 25%. That is Great Depression levels.

Now clearly Europe was not in a depression. But that's the result we get if we look at nominal GDP.

I use PPP in part because of the absolutely wild swings in nominal GDP which are influenced by currency trading more than anything, and have little to do with the real economy.

PPP is more consistent year to year and correlates more strongly with other markers such as life expectancy.

+1
Level 75
May 7, 2023
With that fact in mind (that it's PPP), I am mildly shocked by the result for Russia, which is now at second place just ahead of the UK with about 3.8 trillion USD. According to the "Top 10 Biggest Economies in Europe" quiz, which is based on the same methodology but 2022 data, they were in 4th place back then with about 3.3 trillion USD. Despite all the sanctions, their economy has grown that much in one year? Can that be right?
+1
Level 67
Apr 23, 2023
Just missed Ethiopia
+2
Level 65
Apr 24, 2023
You should accept "Solomon" for Solomon Islands
+1
Level 52
Sep 13, 2023
yeah it's not like there's any other country with a similar name
+2
Level 75
Apr 27, 2023
Can you pop in the leading 0 before the decimal point in the figures for Guatemala and Dominican Republic pretty please?
+1
Level 67
Aug 23, 2023
1:25, 1 point away from level 66