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Europe is definitely an economic powerhouse in the world. With many wealthy countries within the continent, the GDP for Europe is on the higher end compared to other continents. An interesting fact to acknowledge is that over time, inequality has increased drastically between continents over time. Consider the continents Africa and Asia in comparison to Europe. As we can see from Table 1, which shows the total unweighted GDP of Europe, Africa, and Asia in the time span of year 1500 through 2001. Clearly, the table shows that Europe has always had the upper hand over both of the continents in terms of their GDP. However, the trend that seems to be noticeable in this situation is that the gaps of GDP among the three countries have increased over time.
However, using Table 1 to calculate ratios and indicate inequality is not reliable, because it is unweighted, meaning that population is not taken into account. The unweighted values do not regard the amount of people living in the continents at that time period. If we consider the number of people living in the continent at the time period indicated, it can impact the GDP, whether it is in a significant or insignificant way.
However, as we go up the years, the ratios between Europe and the other two continents slowly decrease over time. In 1700, the ratio of total GDP for Asia versus total GDP for Europe is 0.594, about a 0.08 decrease from the ratio in 1600. For Africa, the ratio of Africa versus Europe in 1700 is 0.469, which is a noticeable difference compared to the ratio in 1600, which was 0.671. Table 1 clearly shows the growing trend of GDP over time for all three continents. However, Europe’s GDP, in comparison to Asia and Africa, has grown drastically over the time, whereas the two other continents grew in a gradual manner for the most part. In 2001, the ratio between Africa and Europe is 0.144, a huge difference from the ratios taken from 1600 and 1700.
However, using Table 1 to calculate ratios and indicate inequality is not reliable, because it is unweighted, meaning that population is not taken into account. The unweighted values do not regard the amount of people living in the continents at that time period. If we consider the number of people living in the continent at the time period indicated, it can impact the GDP, whether it is in a significant or insignificant way.
However, as we go up the years, the ratios between Europe and the other two continents slowly decrease over time. In 1700, the ratio of total GDP for Asia versus total GDP for Europe is 0.594, about a 0.08 decrease from the ratio in 1600. For Africa, the ratio of Africa versus Europe in 1700 is 0.469, which is a noticeable difference compared to the ratio in 1600, which was 0.671. Table 1 clearly shows the growing trend of GDP over time for all three continents. However, Europe’s GDP, in comparison to Asia and Africa, has grown drastically over the time, whereas the two other continents grew in a gradual manner for the most part. In 2001, the ratio between Africa and Europe is 0.144, a huge difference from the ratios taken from 1600 and 1700.
