China to advance 56 spots in global per-capita income rankings

China's surging economy is expected to raise the country 56 spots up in the world's per-capita income rankings between 2000 and 2025, and rank it 70th out of 191 measured countries and regions in 2025, according to IMF projects.

The Asian powerhouse's per-capita GDP is forecast to reach $25,307 in 2025, which will put it closer to joiningthe richest one-third of nations. Its per-capita income will increase with an annualized growth rate of 9.1 percent over the 25-year span.

The IMF says only China, Vietnam and Egypt will achieve growth in per-capita GDP in the coronavirus-hit year of 2020.

The BRICS, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, "could become collectively bigger than the G7 countries" in the 2030s, and "This is almost exclusively because of China, and to a smaller degree India," said Jim O'Neill, the former head of Global Economic Research at Goldman Sachs Inc.

G7, which refer to the Group of Seven richest nations, saw average per-capita GDP increase from $31,471 to an estimate of $64,582 in 2025. Italy is the only member that foresees sharply fall in the rankings, from 21st place to the 35th.

The U.S. will slightly move up in the rankings from the 11th in 2000 with a per-capita GDP of $36,318 to the 9th by 2025. Canada is expected to drop six spots to the 24th, and Mexico is set to plunge 26 places to the 77th, one of the biggest losers in the quarter-century.

Among the richest in the world in the early 2000s, Persian Gulf nations have lost ground as oil prices receded, with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia all out of the global top 20.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

(Cover: Nanjing Road, Shanghai, China. /VCG)