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Figures and Tables
"Is the World's Economic Center of Gravity Already in Asia?"
August 2008
Figure 1: Initial and Final Position of the three World's Centers of Gravity
WECG z
WDCG
WGCG
y
x
Notes:
3
10 km on axis.
WECG: World's Economic Center of Gravity
WGCG: World's Geographic Center of Gravity
WDCG: World's Demographic Center of Gravity
Table 1: Polar Coordinates of World's Economic Center of Gravity
Period
Latitude (°)
Longitude (°)
1975-77
1978-80
1981-83
1984-86
1987-89
1990-92
1993-95
1996-98
1999-01
2002-04
67.0 N
67.7 N
68.8 N
70.2 N
71.5 N
72.9 N
74.5 N
75.3 N
75.4 N
75.2 N
13.5 W
14.3 W
9.9 W
8.6 W
4.4 W
3.0 E
8.9 E
16.6 E
21.3 E
32.7 E
I
Distance to Earth
Center in km
3'605
3'566
3'521
3'498
3'467
3'441
3'347
3'301
3'316
3'317
Figure 2a: Projection of the World's Economic and Geographic Center of Gravity (WECG and WGCG)
WECG
WGCG
WGCG
Figure 2b: Projection of the World's Demographic Center of Gravity (WDCG)
WDCG
II
Figure 3: Economic Homogeneity Indicators
Spatial economic imbalance with respect to geographic
center
Spatial economic imbalance with respect to demographic
center
0.16
0.32
0.15
0.31
0.3
0.14
0.29
0.13
0.28
0.12
0.27
0.11
0.26
0.25
0.1
0.24
0.09
1975
1978
1981
1984
1987
1990
1993
1996
1999
0.23
1975
2002
III
1978
1981
1984
1987
1990
1993
1996
1999
2002
Table 2: Distances and Distance Ratios* to the World's Centers of Gravity
Europe
Asia
Africa
North
America
South
America
Oceania
3.79
5.00
5.54
6.33
7.54
8.51
Continental Average
°
3
Distance to WGCG (in 10 km)
3
°
Average Distance to WECG (in 10 km)
3.55
5.61
6.00
5.44
7.34
9.17
°
Initial Distance Ratio
0.87
1.19
1.04
0.82
0.93
1.12
°
Percentage Change 1975-2004 (%)
16.29
-12.21
7.16
11.38
9.58
-7.32
Dublin
(Ireland)
Izmir
(Turkey)
Casablanca
(Morocco)
Boston
(USA)
Caracas
(Venezuela)
Auckland
(New Zealand)
Largest Continental Loser
°
Initial Distance Ratio
0.78
1.06
0.87
0.76
0.86
1.08
°
Percentage Change 1975-2004 (%)
23.86
3.55
20.38
20.07
13.93
-5.68
Tbilisi
(Georgia)
Krasnojarsk
(Russia)
Antananarivo
(Madagascar)
Albany
(USA)
Santiago
(Chile)
Perth
(Australia)
Largest Continental Winner
°
Initial Distance Ratio
1.15
1.14
1.18
0.86
0.98
1.16
°
Percentage Change 1975-2004 (%)
-5.16
-17.06
-3.49
2.95
5.24
-8.22
Note:
WGCG: World's Geographic Center of Gravity, WECG: World's Economic Center of Gravity
* Distance Ratio = Distance to WECG/ Distance to WGCG
IV
Appendices Figures and Tables
Figure A1: Economic, Geographic and Demographic Centers at the continental level
(a) Africa
(b) Asia
(c) Europe
demo
eco
eco
eco
demo
V
demo
Figure A1: Economic, Geographic and Demographic Centers at the continental level (end)
(d) North America
(e) Oceania
(f) South America
eco
eco
demo
demo
demo
eco
VI
Table A1: Sample Countries (Number of countries in parenthesis)
Africa (20)
Asia (22)
Europe (17)
North America (11)
South America (10)
Algeria
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Congo, Rep.
Congo, Dem. Rep.
Egypt
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Madagascar
Mali
Morocco
Nigeria
Senegal
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Sudan
Tunisia
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Bengladesh
Burma
China
India
Indonesia
Iran
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Korea (South)
Malaysia
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines
Russian Fed.
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Syria
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab.
Emirates
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Canada
Costa Rica
Dominican Rep.
El Salvador
Guatemala
Haiti
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Puerto Rico
United States
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay
Venezuela
VII
Oceania (2)
Australia
New Zealand
Table A2: Sample Structure and Representativity
Number of Large Cities
Number of Sample Countries
Sample Share in Total Population (%)*
Sample Share in Total GDP (%)*
Share in Sample Population (%)
Share in Sample GDP (%)
1975/77
2002/04
1975/77
2002/04
World
Africa
South
America
North
America
Asia
Europe
Oceania
392
82
83
95
100
100
100
100
37
20
67.87
86.98
8.09
10.63
3.87
3.34
43
10
99.60
99.86
6.15
6.70
7.05
5.66
77
11
94.43
99.00
9.21
8.72
28.82
26.76
182
22
92.39
98.30
65.67
66.07
29.14
40.59
47
17
66.24
91.24
10.39
7.44
29.69
22.29
6
2
77.81
96.65
0.48
0.44
1.43
1.36
Note:
* Average across the sample period, total figures obtained by considering all countries of the geographic entity.
VIII
Table A3: Polar Coordinates of World's Economic Center of Gravity: alternative calculations
Variable
Estimation
1975-77 1978-80 1981-83 1984-86 1987-89 1990-92 1993-95 1996-98 1999-01 2002-04
Baseline
66.98 N
67.71 N
68.75 N
70.15 N
71.51 N
Enlarged Sample
Latitude (°)
Chinese Province Data
67.05 N
67.80 N
68.83 N
70.26 N
71.63 N
Nordhaus Data
74.51 N
75.26 N
75.41 N
75.23 N
71.52 N
73.04 N
73.74 N
73.86 N
73.53 N
73.03 N
74.68 N
75.47 N
75.64 N
75.47 N
70.00 N
One City Per Country
61.82 N
62.43 N
63.47 N
64.65 N
65.96 N
67.48 N
69.07 N
70.06 N
70.46 N
71.03 N
Baseline
13.51 W 14.25 W
9.93 W
8.57 W
4.37 W
2.98 E
8.86 E
16.63 E
21.25 E
32.68 E
7.72 E
12.84 E
19.63 E
23.74 E
33.79 E
3.51 E
9.41 E
17.28 E
22.01 E
33.66 E
3.07 E
7.87 E
10.75 E
18.45 E
Enlarged Sample
Longitude (°)
72.91 N
Chinese Province Data
13.05 W 13.83 W
9.50 W
8.16 W
3.92 W
Nordhaus Data
One City Per Country
Baseline
Distance to Earth Center,
Enlarged Sample
in km
Chinese Province Data
10.48 E
11.94 W 12.48 W
9.43 W
5.55 W
0.48 W
3'604.94 3'565.64 3'521.14 3'498.23 3'466.75 3'441.19 3'347.17 3'301.03 3'316.33 3'317.14
3'500.82 3'400.55 3'348.79 3'361.84 3'366.65
3'608.41 3'568.50 3'523.98 3'500.43 3'468.92 3'443.59 3'348.44 3'301.77 3'317.01 3'317.56
Nordhaus Data
One City Per Country
8.44 W
3'560.20
3865.03 3822.16 3770.04 3754.57 3722.51 3691.46 3600.97 3557.69 3579.96 3582.00
Notes:
The enlarged sample includes additionnaly Angola, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Poland, Romania, Tajikistan,
Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam, Yemen, Rep.
Chinese province GDP data from the China Statistical Yearbook (2003) are additionally exploited.
The Nordhaus (2006) data is only available for 1990.
One City Per Country: for each country, only the main city is considered.
IX
Table A4: Top 15 Cities in Average Distance
Average Distance
3
(in 10 km)
Stockholm
Sweden
3.19
Helsinki
Finland
3.22
Glasgow
Great Britain
3.25
St.Petersburg
Russia
3.26
Newcastle upon Tyne Great Britain
3.28
Copenhagen
Denmark
3.28
Leeds
Great Britain
3.32
Manchester
Great Britain
3.33
Liverpool
Great Britain
3.33
Sheffield
Great Britain
3.33
Dublin
Ireland
3.34
Hamburg
Germany
3.34
Birmingham
Great Britain
3.37
Amsterdam
Netherlands
3.38
The Hague
Netherlands
3.38
Auckland
New Zealand
9.38
Melbourne
Australia
9.29
Sydney
Australia
9.23
Adelaide
Australia
9.18
Brisbane
Australia
9.06
Perth
Australia
8.90
Santiago
Chile
8.48
Valparaíso
Chile
8.47
Buenos Aires
Argentina
8.40
Montevideo
Uruguay
8.39
Rosario
Argentina
8.35
Cordoba
Argentina
8.33
Porto Alegre
Brazil
8.14
Port Elizabeth
South Africa
8.10
Sao Luis
Brazil
8.10
City
Smallest Distance
Largest Distance
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Country
X
Table A5: Top 15 Cities according to Distance Growth Rate
Gainers
Losers
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
City
Country
Krasnojarsk
Qiqihar
Huhehot
Daqing
Baotou
Datong
Beijing
Harbin
Changchun
Tientsin
Shenyang
Taiyuan
Shijiazhuang
Fushun
Anshan
Dublin
Porto
Lisbon
Glasgow
Liverpool
Manchester
Birmingham
Leeds
Sheffield
Newcastle upon Tyne
Sevilla
Madrid
London
Casablanca
Rabat
Russia
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
Ireland
Portugal
Portugal
Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain
Spain
Spain
Great Britain
Morocco
Morocco
XI
Change (%),
1975-2004
-17.06
-16.99
-16.96
-16.95
-16.94
-16.87
-16.79
-16.75
-16.73
-16.70
-16.67
-16.67
-16.66
-16.65
-16.64
23.86
23.22
22.67
22.59
22.24
21.82
21.73
21.44
21.43
21.34
20.97
20.86
20.78
20.38
20.23
3
Table A6: Distance to WECG (in 10 km) by Country
Country
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Belgium
Bolivia
Brazil
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo (Dem. Rep.)
Congo (Rep.)
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
GBR and N. Ireland
Greece
Guatemala
Haiti
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Period
1975-77
2001-04
3.81
4.45
8.19
8.65
9.55
8.83
3.42
3.78
6.39
5.49
3.16
3.73
7.45
8.07
7.29
7.93
5.23
5.85
5.86
6.23
4.36
5.00
8.29
8.73
6.33
5.32
6.39
7.12
6.51
6.72
6.40
6.66
6.35
7.02
5.66
6.26
3.10
3.49
5.54
6.39
6.87
7.52
4.60
4.66
6.27
6.89
3.15
3.30
3.26
3.86
4.29
4.07
3.21
3.69
5.64
6.20
3.06
3.70
4.04
4.25
6.25
6.85
5.60
6.42
3.49
3.80
6.19
5.42
8.16
7.24
4.81
4.45
3.01
3.72
4.58
4.56
3.57
4.04
6.47
5.49
Country
Jordan
Kenya
Madagascar
Malaysia
Mali
Mexico
Morocco
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Portugal
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
USA
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zambia
Zimbabwe
XII
Period
1975-77
2001-04
4.62
4.57
6.56
6.46
7.68
7.41
7.70
6.77
5.18
5.89
6.11
6.60
3.91
4.69
6.03
5.18
3.12
3.68
9.65
9.10
6.29
6.94
5.57
6.06
5.56
4.92
6.31
7.02
7.74
8.31
7.39
7.98
7.48
6.46
3.59
4.41
3.64
3.43
5.26
5.05
5.06
5.88
5.44
6.18
7.80
6.87
7.87
7.87
6.27
5.27
3.60
4.44
7.04
6.28
5.50
5.50
3.07
3.34
3.35
3.86
4.48
4.41
7.12
6.16
3.88
4.38
4.05
4.13
4.94
5.54
5.45
5.01
8.18
8.65
5.48
6.38
7.21
7.22
7.37
7.34