by a 2% drop in the GDP of the former USSR/Eastern Europe area
(only 6% of GWP). With the notable exception of Japan at 3%,
unemployment was typically 6%-12% in the industrial world. The US
accounted for 21% of GWP in 1996; Western Europe accounted for 20%;
and Japan accounted for 8%. These are the three "economic superpowers"
presumably destined to compete for mastery in international markets on
into the 21st century. As for the less developed countries: China,
India, and the Four Dragons - South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
Singapore - once again posted records of 5% growth or better; however,
many other countries, especially in Africa, continued to suffer from
drought, rapid population growth, inflation, and civil strife. Central
Europe and the 15 successor states to the USSR generally made progress
in moving toward "market-friendly" economies, but output in Russia and
Ukraine continued to fall. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock
economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over
international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology.
Internally, the central government in a number of cases is losing
control over resources as separatist regional movements - typically
based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in the successor states of
the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, and in
Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political
problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to
increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The
addition of nearly 100 million people each year to an already
overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution,
desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of
their own internal problems, the industrialized countries have
inadequate resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the
world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming
further marginalized. (For specific economic developments in each
country, see the individual country entries.)

GDP: GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $35.8
trillion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 3.6% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,200 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture : NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%

Inflation rate - consumer price index: all countries 25%; developed
countries 2% to 4% typically; developing countries