Data of share of GDP of India and other countries (in percentage term):

Country\Year 0 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820 1870 1913 1950 1973 1998
India 32.9 28.9 24.5 22.6 24.4 16 12.2 7.6 4.2 3.1 5
China 26.2 22.7 25 29.2 22.3 32.9 17.2 8.9 4.5 4.6 11.5
USA 0 0 0.3 0.2 0.1 1.8 8.9 19.1 27.3 22 21.9
Japan 1.2 2.7 3.1 2.9 4.1 3 2.3 2.6 3 7.7 7.7
Germany 0 0 3.3 3.8 3.6 3.8 6.5 8.8 5 5.9 4.3
France 0 0 4.4 4.7 5.7 5.5 6.5 5.3 4.1 4.3 3.4
Africa 6.8 11.8 7.4 6.7 6.6 4.5 3.6 2.7 3.6 3.3 3.1
UK 0 0 1.1 1.8 2.9 5.2 9.1 8.3 6.5 4.2 3.3

GDP Shares of countries

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820 1870 1913 1950 1973 1998

India China USA Japan Germany France Africa UK

Observations:

1. India and China were rich countries at the start of AD era. Together they had around 59% of
world GDP. Due to British rule, India started losing its GDP share after 1700. So did China
during after 1820 because of colonization problem. Export led growth increased China share
in late 1990s while India’s share was increased due to economic reforms such as economic
liberalization.
2. Data is not available for few countries like US, Germany, Japan, UK during 0-1000 AD, as
those countries were not discovered at that point of time.
3. Rapid industrialisation and innovation led to increase the GDP of US which in turn increased
its share of GDP in the world.
4. Devastated with WWII, Japan started gaining momentum due to its technological inventions
and export led strategy and increased its share of GDP in the world.
5. The share of the top countries’ GDP in the world has decreased to 60% in the recent times
which was more than 70% during 1600-1700 AD.