The World’s 15 Fastest Growing Economies

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

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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

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2013 GDP (%): + 8.05
CAGR (%): + 9.19
Economic boosters: farming & mining

No. 13: Zambia

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2013 GDP (%): + 8.19
CAGR (%): + 9.24
Economic boosters: copper mining

No. 12: Mozambique

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2013 GDP (%): + 8.40
CAGR (%): + 9.29
Economic boosters: aluminum exports

No. 11: The Republic of Congo

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2013 GDP (%): + 5.29
CAGR (%): + 9.31
Economic boosters: oil exports

No. 10: Papua New Guinea

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2013 GDP (%):+ 3.99
CAGR (%):+ 9.27
Economic boosters: agriculture & copper, gold, oil, and natural gas exports

No. 9: China

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2013 GDP (%): + 8.23
CAGR (%): + 10.02
Economic boosters: alternative energy & exports (China is the world’s biggest exporter)

No. 8: Libya

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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

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2013 GDP (%): + 10
CAGR (%): + 11.92
Economic boosters: oil and gas exports

No. 6: Iraq

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2013 GDP (%): + 14.67
CAGR (%): + 13.56
Economic boosters: oil exports & foreign investments

No. 5: Mongolia

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2013 GDP (%): +15.74
CAGR (%): 13.83
Economic boosters: gold, copper, tin, tungsten, uranium, and coal exports & foreign investments

No. 4: Bhutan

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2013 GDP (%): + 13.50
CAGR (%): + 14.46
Economic boosters: agriculture, forestry & hydropower exports

No. 3: Guinea

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2013 GDP (%) +5
CAGR (%): + 16.27
Economic boosters: bauxite, gold, iron ore, and diamonds exports

No. 2: South Sudan

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2013 GDP (%): + 69.60
CAGR (%): + 19.85
Economic boosters: agriculture, farming & oil exports

No. 1: São Tomé and Principe

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2013 GDP (%): + 5.5
CAGR (%): + 31.5
Economic boosters: oil exports & foreign investments