Curious to know what the world’s fastest growing economies are? Based on the data provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we have compiled a list of the world’s 15 fastest growing economies. The indicator used to rank the nations is the compounded annual growth rate, or CAGR for short, for the years 2013-2017. All of the nations in our list are located in either Asia or Africa, and an overwhelming majority relies on oil exports as the main contributor to economies.
We would like to specify that this is not a countdown of the best economies in the world. It is simply a list compiling the nations which are presumed to grow the fastest over the course of the following four years. Wondering who’s made the countdown? Let’s take a look.
No. 15: Turkmenistan
2013 GDP (%): + 7.69
CAGR (%): + 9.18
Economic boosters: agriculture & natural gas and oil exports
See the rest of the world’s fastest growing economies on the next few pages, and for more list-sanity, check out our coverage of the highest jobs in demand.
No. 14: Laos
2013 GDP (%): + 8.05
CAGR (%): + 9.19
Economic boosters: farming & mining
No. 13: Zambia
2013 GDP (%): + 8.19
CAGR (%): + 9.24
Economic boosters: copper mining
No. 12: Mozambique
2013 GDP (%): + 8.40
CAGR (%): + 9.29
Economic boosters: aluminum exports
No. 11: The Republic of Congo
2013 GDP (%): + 5.29
CAGR (%): + 9.31
Economic boosters: oil exports
No. 10: Papua New Guinea
2013 GDP (%):+ 3.99
CAGR (%):+ 9.27
Economic boosters: agriculture & copper, gold, oil, and natural gas exports
No. 9: China
2013 GDP (%): + 8.23
CAGR (%): + 10.02
Economic boosters: alternative energy & exports (China is the world’s biggest exporter)
No. 8: Libya
2013 GDP (%): + 16.69
CAGR (%): + 10.38
Economic boosters: natural gas and oil exports & the construction and services industries
No. 7: The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
2013 GDP (%): + 10
CAGR (%): + 11.92
Economic boosters: oil and gas exports
No. 6: Iraq
2013 GDP (%): + 14.67
CAGR (%): + 13.56
Economic boosters: oil exports & foreign investments
No. 5: Mongolia
2013 GDP (%): +15.74
CAGR (%): 13.83
Economic boosters: gold, copper, tin, tungsten, uranium, and coal exports & foreign investments
No. 4: Bhutan
2013 GDP (%): + 13.50
CAGR (%): + 14.46
Economic boosters: agriculture, forestry & hydropower exports
No. 3: Guinea
2013 GDP (%) +5
CAGR (%): + 16.27
Economic boosters: bauxite, gold, iron ore, and diamonds exports
No. 2: South Sudan
2013 GDP (%): + 69.60
CAGR (%): + 19.85
Economic boosters: agriculture, farming & oil exports
No. 1: São Tomé and Principe
2013 GDP (%): + 5.5
CAGR (%): + 31.5
Economic boosters: oil exports & foreign investments
