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Ranked: The World’s Most Indebted Countries Today

2026-03-03 01:19:05

See more visuals like this on the Voronoi app.

Bar chart ranking different countries based on their total household, corporate, and government debt burdens.

Ranked: The World’s Most Indebted Countries Today

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • Hong Kong ranks first with total debt equal to 380% of GDP, followed by Japan at 372%
  • The U.S. ranks seventh at 264%, led by government debt (123%) and corporate debt (73%)

How indebted is your country today?

Based on the latest available data (Q4 2025) from the Institute of International Finance’s Global Debt Monitor, several major economies now carry total debt loads exceeding 300% of GDP, meaning their combined household, corporate, and government borrowing is worth more than three years of economic output.

This visualization ranks 35 countries by their total debt-to-GDP ratios, combining household, corporate, and government borrowing into one measure.

Hong Kong Tops the Ranking

With a total debt burden of 380%, Hong Kong has the world’s highest total debt. This small special administrative region (SAR) of China is highly developed and urbanized, counting roughly 7.5 million inhabitants.

While its government debt is a relatively slim 67% and its total household debt of 86% hovers around global developed-country standards, Hong Kong’s corporate debt is a staggering 227% of GDP, making up nearly the entirety of its total debt burden.

The table below shows the total debt burden and breakdowns for household, corporate, and government debt to GDP:

Country Household Debt (% GDP) Nonfinancial Corporate Debt (% GDP) Government Debt (% GDP) Total Debt (% GDP)
🇭🇰 Hong Kong 86 227 67 380
🇯🇵 Japan 60 113 199 372
🇸🇬 Singapore 45 130 172 347
🇫🇷 France 59 156 110 326
🇨🇦 Canada 100 118 97 315
🇨🇳 China 60 142 97 298
🇺🇸 United States 68 73 123 264
🇰🇷 South Korea 89 111 49 249
🇮🇹 Italy 36 59 141 236
🇲🇾 Malaysia 70 88 66 224
🇹🇭 Thailand 88 76 60 223
🇧🇭 Bahrain 24 56 143 223
🇬🇧 United Kingdom 74 59 81 214
🇩🇪 Germany 49 89 63 200
🇮🇱 Israel 43 71 70 184
🇧🇷 Brazil 36 50 92 178
🇯🇴 Jordan 27 56 90 172
🇬🇩 Grenada 37 64 68 168
🇲🇻 Maldives 18 17 132 167
🇮🇳 India 39 49 74 163
🇻🇳 Vietnam 23 107 32 161
🇭🇺 Hungary 18 70 73 161
🇨🇱 Chile 41 86 31 158
🇸🇳 Senegal 5 29 123 156
🇿🇦 South Africa 34 35 79 149
🇹🇳 Tunisia 23 39 81 143
🇸🇻 El Salvador 22 25 88 134
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago 34 35 65 134
🇰🇼 Kuwait 41 83 7 131
🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo 3 35 93 131
🇨🇿 Czech Republic 32 51 47 129
🇷🇺 Russia 21 79 27 127
🇪🇨 Ecuador 29 44 52 125
🇲🇦 Morocco 20 37 67 124
🇨🇴 Colombia 26 28 68 121
🇿🇲 Zambia 6 8 107 120
🇲🇿 Mozambique 9 12 97 118
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates 27 56 34 117
🇵🇱 Poland 22 35 59 116
🇯🇲 Jamaica 19 36 60 115
🇱🇦 Lao PDR 11 12 91 114
🇷🇼 Rwanda 12 27 73 113
🇨🇷 Costa Rica 34 14 60 108
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 31 45 28 105
🇴🇲 Oman 24 44 35 104
🇷🇴 Romania 11 29 61 102
🇪🇬 Egypt 7 20 75 102
🇦🇷 Argentina 6 20 76 101
🇰🇪 Kenya 9 23 67 100
🇵🇭 Philippines 11 26 59 96
🇲🇳 Mongolia 23 24 47 93
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 14 17 60 91
🇬🇲 Gambia 7 6 74 87
🇲🇽 Mexico 17 21 48 86
🇵🇪 Peru 13 41 31 86
🇵🇰 Pakistan 2 10 72 84
🇷🇸 Serbia 16 23 44 83
🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire 8 18 56 82
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 10 71 0 80
🇮🇩 Indonesia 15 24 40 79
🇧🇩 Bangladesh 6 30 40 77
🇹🇷 Türkiye 10 38 27 75
🇦🇴 Angola 1 8 62 71
🇧🇯 Benin 5 16 51 71
🇪🇹 Ethiopia 5 16 47 68
🇬🇭 Ghana 3 5 59 66
🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea 4 8 50 62
🇹🇿 Tanzania 7 6 50 62
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan 19 14 25 58
🇳🇬 Nigeria 13 7 36 56
🇨🇲 Cameroon 3 8 38 49
🇭🇳 Honduras 0 0 45 45
🇹🇯 Tajikistan 11 6 22 39
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 0 0 31 31

However, Hong Kong’s high corporate debt can best be explained by the SAR’s real estate business, in which high-debt transactions are standard. The dynamic real estate sector and related activities contribute roughly a quarter to Hong Kong’s GDP.

Japan’s Government Debt Nears 200% of GDP

In contrast, Japan’s corporate debt (113%) is relatively in line with other OECD and developed peers; however, the government’s sprawling government debt of just shy of 200% of GDP is higher than many countries’ total debt burden.

Government debt woes began to take off following the Lost Decades of economic stagnation which followed the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in 1991.

As years of sluggish growth turned into decades, Japanese policymakers opted to incorporate quantitative easing, a policy by which the central bank bought government bonds in order to stimulate economic activity in the country, driving up the country’s national debt in the process.

Today the Bank of Japan owns roughly half of the national debt, while the other half is held in large part by domestic banks and insurance companies.

Debt in the Developed World

Japan is not the only country to have had to accrue debt in response to tough times. Back-to-back crises have forced governments to borrow extensively in recent years, from global COVID-19 stimulus responses to more recent industrial and defense purchases across Europe.

Many governments continue to run large fiscal deficits, while households and businesses face rising borrowing costs amid economic uncertainty.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Biggest Foreign Buyers and Sellers of U.S. Debt on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Ranked: Countries Building the Most Nuclear Reactors

2026-03-02 23:22:23

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This chart shows which countries are building the most nuclear reactors as of September 2025

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Ranked: Countries Building the Most Nuclear Reactors

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • China accounts for 37 of the world’s reactors under construction—more than all other listed countries combined.
  • India and Russia rank a distant second, with six reactors each currently being built.
  • As of September 2025, the United States, France, and Canada have no reactors under construction.

China is in the middle of the largest nuclear construction push in the world.

Dozens of reactors are rising across the country, representing nearly 43 gigawatts of new generating capacity. That buildout alone exceeds what every other nation currently has under construction combined.

This chart breaks down which countries are expanding nuclear power in 2025, and below we also cover how much power they are adding to their grids.

The data comes from the World Nuclear Association.

China’s Massive Nuclear Expansion

China currently has 37 reactors under construction, representing roughly 42.9 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity.

That is more than six times the capacity being built in either India or Russia, the next closest countries.

As electricity demand rises and older plants retire, nuclear expansion will play a decisive role in shaping long-term energy security and grid stability.

Country Reactors Under Construction Megawatts
🇨🇳 China 37 42.9K
🇮🇳 India 6 5.2K
🇷🇺 Russia 6 4.2K
🇪🇬 Egypt 4 4.8K
🇹🇷 Türkiye 4 4.8K
🇰🇷 South Korea 3 4.2K
🇧🇩 Bangladesh 2 2.4K
🇯🇵 Japan 2 2.8K
🇺🇦 Ukraine 2 1.9K
🇬🇧 United Kingdom 2 3.4K
🇦🇷 Argentina 1 0.03K
🇧🇷 Brazil 1 1.4K
🇭🇺 Hungary 1 1.2K
🇮🇷 Iran 1 1.1K
🇵🇰 Pakistan 1 1.1K
🇸🇰 Slovakia 1 0.5K
🇨🇦 Canada 0 0K
🇫🇷 France 0 0K
🇺🇸 USA 0 0K

Most reactors are initially licensed to operate for about 40 years, though many receive extensions to 60 years or even 80 years with upgrades and maintenance. As older plants reach the end of their lifespans, new reactors are needed to replace retiring capacity, support grid stability, and help countries meet long-term decarbonization goals.

India and Russia in Second Place

India and Russia are tied for second place with six reactors each under construction. India’s projects total 5.2 GW of capacity, slightly above Russia’s 4.2 GW.

After that, activity drops off quickly. Egypt and Türkiye each have four reactors underway, while most other countries are building one or two.

Notably, several established nuclear powers are absent from the list. As of September 2025, the United States, France, and Canada have no reactors under construction.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out How Much Control China Has Over the World’s Critical Minerals on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Ranked: The World’s 50 Most Valuable Companies in 2026

2026-03-02 21:03:08

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Treemap showing the world's 50 most valuable companies by market cap in 2026.

Use This Visualization

The World’s 50 Most Valuable Companies in 2026

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • Nvidia leads at $4.8 trillion, followed by Apple ($4.0 trillion) and Alphabet ($3.8 trillion).
  • Tech firms represent seven of the top 10 companies by market cap.
  • Along with Nvidia, three other AI-related semiconductor companies—TSMC, Broadcom, and ASML—rank in the top 20 most valuable firms.

Nvidia, with a $4.8 trillion market valuation, is the world’s most valuable company in 2026.

The company has once again surpassed Apple and Alphabet as record sales lift its valuation, despite AI bubble fears. Meanwhile, TSMC’s $2 trillion market cap now exceeds both Meta Platforms and Tesla, ranking in sixth globally.

Using data from CompaniesMarketCap, this graphic shows the 50 most valuable companies worldwide in 2026.

The Top 50 Companies in 2026

Here are the largest companies by market capitalization as of February 25, 2026:

Rank Name Country Market Cap
1 Nvidia 🇺🇸 U.S. $4,769,090,895,872
2 Apple 🇺🇸 U.S. $4,030,215,225,344
3 Alphabet 🇺🇸 U.S. $3,786,845,192,192
4 Microsoft 🇺🇸 U.S. $2,976,667,402,240
5 Amazon 🇺🇸 U.S. $2,261,686,681,600
6 TSMC 🇹🇼 Taiwan $2,009,122,209,792
7 Saudi Aramco 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia $1,659,869,263,655
8 Meta Platforms 🇺🇸 U.S. $1,653,772,779,520
9 Broadcom 🇺🇸 U.S. $1,575,548,878,848
10 Tesla 🇺🇸 U.S. $1,566,227,562,496
11 Berkshire Hathaway 🇺🇸 U.S. $1,067,125,637,120
12 Walmart 🇺🇸 U.S. $1,002,825,187,328
13 Eli Lilly 🇺🇸 U.S. $971,747,753,984
14 Samsung 🇰🇷 South Korea $953,387,784,196
15 JPMorgan Chase 🇺🇸 U.S. $818,792,038,400
16 Exxon Mobil 🇺🇸 U.S. $629,201,108,992
17 Visa 🇺🇸 U.S. $603,784,871,936
18 Tencent 🇨🇳 China $602,976,288,768
19 ASML 🇳🇱 Netherlands $592,511,303,680
20 Johnson & Johnson 🇺🇸 U.S. $591,292,792,832
21 SK Hynix 🇰🇷 South Korea $492,511,926,210
22 Micron Technology 🇺🇸 U.S. $482,640,887,808
23 Mastercard 🇺🇸 U.S. $455,227,998,208
24 Costco 🇺🇸 U.S. $441,631,375,360
25 Oracle 🇺🇸 U.S. $425,078,030,336
26 AbbVie 🇺🇸 U.S. $400,878,174,208
27 Procter & Gamble 🇺🇸 U.S. $382,102,667,264
28 Roche 🇨🇭 Switzerland $380,012,805,029
29 Bank of America 🇺🇸 U.S. $377,648,578,560
30 Home Depot 🇺🇸 U.S. $373,943,992,320
31 ICBC 🇨🇳 China $369,137,809,154
32 Chevron 🇺🇸 U.S. $368,560,832,512
33 Alibaba 🇨🇳 China $363,649,957,888
34 General Electric 🇺🇸 U.S. $361,938,288,640
35 Caterpillar 🇺🇸 U.S. $358,505,119,744
36 Netflix 🇺🇸 U.S. $350,804,246,528
37 Coca-Cola 🇺🇸 U.S. $346,150,469,632
38 AMD 🇺🇸 U.S. $343,772,135,424
39 Agricultural Bank of China 🇨🇳 China $331,706,101,844
40 China Construction Bank 🇨🇳 China $329,442,725,971
41 LVMH 🇫🇷 France $324,094,895,625
42 HSBC 🇬🇧 United Kingdom $323,268,870,144
43 Novartis 🇨🇭 Switzerland $322,706,767,872
44 Palantir 🇺🇸 U.S. $320,938,967,040
45 AstraZeneca 🇬🇧 United Kingdom $319,598,690,304
46 Toyota 🇯🇵 Japan $315,160,494,080
47 Applied Materials 🇺🇸 U.S. $313,424,740,352
48 Lam Research 🇺🇸 U.S. $313,366,904,832
49 Cisco 🇺🇸 U.S. $312,610,619,392
50 Merck 🇺🇸 U.S. $305,828,593,664

As the largest publicly-traded company in the world, Nvidia recently posted a record $68.1 billion in quarterly earnings, up 94% year-over-year.

With OpenAI, Oracle, and Microsoft among its largest customers, a string of strong earnings reports has pushed its valuation close to a $5 trillion market capitalization. Still, investor skepticism has tempered share price gains amid concerns about overvaluation.

Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft follow, each valued at roughly $3 trillion or more.

Saudi Aramco, one of only two non-U.S. companies in the top 10, ranks seventh with a $1.7 trillion valuation. Weaker oil prices have weighed on its performance, with shares down about 30% from their 2022 peak.

Meanwhile, chip designer Broadcom ranks ninth at nearly $1.6 trillion. In addition to producing custom AI accelerator chips for OpenAI and Meta, it designed Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs).

Today, Broadcom is increasingly emerging as a competitor to Nvidia, alongside companies such as Google (#3) and AMD (#38) as Big Tech prepares to spend $650 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026 alone.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the largest U.S. semiconductor firms by market cap.

Visualizing the Human and Economic Cost of the Syrian Civil War

2026-03-02 06:25:45

Charts showing deaths, displacement, poverty, and economic decline during the Syrian civil war from 2011 to 2024

Visualized: The Human and Economic Cost of the Syrian Civil War

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • The Syrian civil war has inflicted profound suffering, killing hundreds of thousands, displacing millions, and reversing decades of development.
  • Beyond battlefield deaths, conflict has driven spikes in child mortality, extreme poverty, undernourishment, and sharp contraction in GDP per capita.
  • Even as large-scale fighting has subsided, Syria faces a fragile recovery amid economic collapse and lingering insecurity.

What began in March 2011 as pro-democracy protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government spiraled into one of the most brutal conflicts of the 21st century, drawing in regional and global powers and resulting in immense human suffering. Over more than a decade of war, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives, and millions were forced from their homes.

These charts from Our World in Data and sourced from the UN, Eurostat, the IMF, World Bank and others show the many costs of conflict — from fatalities to economic collapse and rising poverty.

Here’s a detailed look at the data behind the war’s impacts:

Category (Syria) Initial Data (2004) Peak Data Point Most Recent Data
Deaths due to fighting ~0 79,000 3,600
Deaths from all causes 73,000 160,000 120,000
Deaths of children under 5 11,000 23,000 10,000
Internally displaced people ~0 7.6 million 7.3 million
International refugees 22,000 6.9 million 6.4 million
GDP per capita $9,500 $9,600 $4,200
Share in extreme poverty 0.50% 17% 17%
Share undernourished 6.50% 34% 34%

The data illustrate several harsh realities: annual deaths from fighting spiked after 2011 with devastating loss of life, including among children, while total deaths from all causes rose. Millions of Syrians became internally displaced or refugees, GDP per capita plunged, and extreme poverty and undernourishment grew sharply.

Understanding the War’s Origins

The conflict began during the Arab Spring when peaceful protests were met with force by government security services. What followed was a fragmented civil war involving government forces, opposition groups, Kurdish militias, extremist factions, and international actors; including Russia, Iran, the U.S., Turkey, and others.

At its peak, organized violence devastated cities like Aleppo, Homs and Raqqa, and fracturing Syrian society. Hundreds of thousands were killed across combatants and civilians, and millions more were displaced internally and abroad, which remade the country’s demographics and burdened neighboring states.

Beyond the Battlefield: Economic and Social Impacts

The war’s impacts extend far beyond immediate conflict deaths. GDP per capita more than halved as economic activity collapsed amid destruction of infrastructure and displacement of workers. Extreme poverty (once rare in Syria) surged, while undernourishment became widespread.

This aligns with broader findings that violence imposes costs on societies far beyond direct combat, from lost productivity to health crises and long-term poverty.

What Happens Now?

Though large-scale warfare has diminished, Syria faces a fragile transition. Recent agreements between the central government and Kurdish forces aim to stabilize parts of the country, but humanitarian needs remain acute. Millions still depend on aid, and access to essential services is uneven.

Political fragmentation, economic collapse, and reconstruction needs—estimated in the hundreds of billions—mean recovery will be lengthy and uncertain, even as some areas see renewed governance and investment.

Mapped: Africa in 1914, When 90% of the Continent Was Colonized

2026-03-02 02:43:00

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Political map showing Africa in 1914 with modern national borders transposed.

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Africa in 1914, When 90% of the Continent Was Colonized

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • This infographic map shows Africa in 1914, on the eve of World War I, when 90% of the continent was controlled by just seven European empires.
  • Many of today’s national borders took shape in this era, as European powers carved up the African continent amongst themselves.
  • While Germany ceded all of its African colonies at the conclusion of the war, all of the European empires would come to lose their own colonies in the decades to follow.

In just a few decades, European empires redrew the map of Africa.

In the span of roughly 40 years, European powers had carved up nearly the entire continent, transforming Africa into a patchwork of colonial territories administered from London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Lisbon, Rome, and Madrid.

This map captures that moment at its peak, on the eve of World War I, when imperial control stretched across almost the whole continent before the war began to unravel Europe’s overseas empires.

Many of Africa’s modern national borders trace directly back to this period, reflecting colonial-era agreements rather than preexisting cultural or political boundaries.

Data used here leverages diverse sources including UNESCO (1990), Eric Hobsbawm (1987), Henk Wesseling (1997), EBSCO (2023), and the Library of Congress.

The Scramble for Africa

European empires had been making incursions into Africa for centuries, as seen through the Dutch settlers who arrived in the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 and Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian expedition in 1798.

However, the era of New Imperialism which began in the second half of the 19th century saw significantly more complex colonial efforts by the European great powers, especially the British, French, and Germans.

The “Scramble for Africa” saw these three great powers partition the African continent amongst themselves, with the process perhaps best represented by the 1885 Berlin Conference.

Some of the active colonial powers, such as Belgium or Portugal, were smaller countries without extensive military power, while some European great powers like Russia and Austria-Hungary did not participate in the Scramble for Africa.

A Tale of Two Colonies

The British Empire was the most successful of the European empires in Africa, ruling over nearly uninterrupted lands across the eastern half of the continent.

London’s dreams of a Cape to Cairo railway linking their dominions in Egypt and South Africa were dashed by geographic and political concerns, as the eastern Belgian Congo was inhospitable for railway construction while German East Africa was a possession of the leading British rival of the era.

Following the end of the Great War, the British would take control of the latter territory, in what is today the country of Tanzania, although economic concerns during the Great Depression led to the dreamed railway never coming to fruition.

While the British were dominant in eastern Africa, the Maghreb and much of West Africa fell under French control. There were of course nuances between cases: Algeria was annexed to the territory of metropolitan France, while Morocco and Tunisia were each protectorates ruled by leaders loyal to the French Empire.

Nor did Morocco remain solely French-administered, as a 1912 treaty gave Spain dominion over northern parts of the country, near the Straits of Gibraltar, as well as a southern component bordering its Spanish Sahara colony.

By this point in history, Spain, much like neighboring Portugal, was holding on to its final few colonies following major losses of control in the Americas in the preceding decades. The two Iberian countries’ lack of involvement in the world wars led to them keeping their African colonies longer than most other European states, with independence and decolonization only coming in the 1960s-1970s.

Belgium and the Independent States

Owing to great-power ambivalence over the Congo Basin, Belgium’s King Leopold was able to establish a single vast colony, far larger than his own country, over which to rule. Belgian Congo, with its vast rubber extraction, has been cited as one of the most brutal and damaging colonies within the continent.

Meanwhile, further north only two countries managed to avoid colonization during the Partition of Africa: Ethiopia and Liberia.

The former, also known as Abyssinia, successfully repelled Italian colonization during the prewar partition, although it was eventually occupied by Fascist Italy during the interwar period. Liberia, meanwhile, was founded by freed U.S. slaves and was never colonized, helping it become Africa’s longest-lasting independent state today.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Is there any correlation between Roman emperors’ life spans and currency debasement? To learn more, check out this visualization on Voronoi.

Ranked: The Countries Most Dependent on Tourism (Share of GDP)

2026-03-01 23:42:08

See more visualizations like this on the Voronoi app.

This bar chart shows the countries most reliant on tourism for their GDP.

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Ranked: The Countries Most Dependent on Tourism (Share of GDP)

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • In Macao, international tourism accounts for 70.8% of GDP, the highest share in the world.
  • Eight of the top 10 most tourism-dependent economies are small island nations.
  • In contrast, tourism contributes less than 1% of GDP in 47 countries in the dataset.

Tourism is a major global industry, projected to contribute $11.7 trillion to global GDP in 2025, or roughly 10% of total economic output. But its importance varies dramatically by country.

For some nations, tourism is a supplementary source of income. For others, it represents the central pillar of economic activity.

The chart above ranks countries by tourism’s share of GDP, using international tourism receipts from UN Tourism and GDP data from the IMF.

Small Economies Lead the Ranking

Macao tops the list. Visitor spending totaled $32.4 billion, equal to 70.8% of its $45.8 billion economy.

Aruba follows at 69.7%, while the Maldives (68.1%) and Andorra (66.5%) also derive roughly two-thirds of their economic output from tourism. Saint Lucia ranks fifth, with tourism accounting for 53.8% of GDP.

Rank Country Tourism Share of GDP (%)
1 🇲🇴 Macao 70.8
2 🇦🇼 Aruba 69.7
3 🇲🇻 Maldives 68.1
4 🇦🇩 Andorra 66.5
5 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 53.8
6 🇬🇩 Grenada 48.1
7 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 47.8
8 🇸🇨 Seychelles 46.6
9 🇧🇸 Bahamas 35.0
10 🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis 32.9
11 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 26.9
12 🇲🇹 Malta 26.4
13 🇧🇿 Belize 25.5
14 🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 23.8
15 🇱🇧 Lebanon 23.6
16 🇦🇱 Albania 21.9
17 🇫🇯 Fiji 21.5
18 🇼🇸 Samoa 19.8
19 🇲🇪 Montenegro 19.8
20 🇯🇲 Jamaica 19.7
21 🇬🇲 Gambia 19.0
22 🇹🇻 Tuvalu 18.6
23 🇭🇷 Croatia 17.9
24 🇯🇴 Jordan 16.9
25 🇩🇲 Dominica 16.8
26 🇲🇺 Mauritius 15.4
27 🇧🇧 Barbados 14.8
28 🇬🇪 Georgia 14.5
29 🇸🇲 San Marino 14.3
30 🇵🇹 Portugal 11.5
31 🇹🇴 Tonga 11.2
32 🇸🇻 El Salvador 11.1
33 🇨🇾 Cyprus 10.8
34 🇶🇦 Qatar 10.7
35 🇵🇦 Panama 10.5
36 🇦🇲 Armenia 10.5
37 🇫🇲 Micronesia 10.3
38 🇬🇷 Greece 10.1
39 🇮🇸 Iceland 9.7
40 🇧🇭 Bahrain 9.0
41 🇹🇭 Thailand 8.8
42 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 8.8
43 🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe 8.7
44 🇰🇭 Cambodia 8.5
45 🇲🇦 Morocco 8.3
46 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates 8.2
47 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 7.2
48 🇱🇦 Laos 7.0
49 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 6.8
50 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan 6.7
51 🇹🇳 Tunisia 6.7
52 🇰🇲 Comoros 6.4
53 🇧🇹 Bhutan 6.4
54 🇪🇸 Spain 6.2
55 🇵🇼 Palau 6.1
56 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 5.9
57 🇲🇾 Malaysia 5.8
58 🇹🇷 Türkiye 5.8
59 🇦🇹 Austria 5.6
60 🇭🇰 Hong Kong 5.5
61 🇪🇪 Estonia 5.5
62 🇲🇩 Moldova 5.1
63 🇸🇮 Slovenia 5.0
64 🇷🇼 Rwanda 5.0
65 🇭🇺 Hungary 4.9
66 🇪🇬 Egypt 4.5
67 🇻🇺 Vanuatu 4.4
68 🇸🇬 Singapore 4.4
69 🇹🇿 Tanzania 4.3
70 🇷🇸 Serbia 4.3
71 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 4.2
72 🇲🇰 North Macedonia 3.8
73 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 3.7
74 🇳🇿 New Zealand 3.7
75 🇴🇲 Oman 3.5
76 🇸🇸 South Sudan 3.3
77 🇲🇲 Myanmar 3.3
78 🇳🇦 Namibia 3.3
79 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan 3.3
80 🇮🇪 Ireland 3.2
81 🇸🇩 Sudan 3.2
82 🇹🇱 Timor-Leste 3.2
83 🇪🇹 Ethiopia 3.1
84 🇲🇳 Mongolia 3.1
85 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands 3.1
86 🇱🇻 Latvia 3.1
87 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 3.1
88 🇦🇺 Australia 3.0
89 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago 2.9
90 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico 2.9
91 🇿🇲 Zambia 2.9
92 🇨🇿 Czechia 2.9
93 🇺🇾 Uruguay 2.8
94 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 2.8
95 🇨🇭 Switzerland 2.8
96 🇫🇷 France 2.7
97 🇩🇰 Denmark 2.7
98 🇲🇬 Madagascar 2.6
99 🇳🇮 Nicaragua 2.6
100 🇮🇹 Italy 2.6
101 🇺🇬 Uganda 2.5
102 🇵🇭 Philippines 2.4
103 🇨🇴 Colombia 2.4
104 🇬🇾 Guyana 2.4
105 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 2.3
106 🇱🇹 Lithuania 2.3
107 🇨🇦 Canada 2.2
108 🇪🇷 Eritrea 2.2
109 🇸🇳 Senegal 2.1
110 🇹🇬 Togo 2.0
111 🇧🇼 Botswana 2.0
112 🇫🇮 Finland 2.0
113 🇳🇵 Nepal 2.0
114 🇭🇳 Honduras 2.0
115 🇲🇽 Mexico 2.0
116 🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam 1.9
117 🇧🇴 Bolivia 1.9
118 🇳🇱 Netherlands 1.9
119 🇳🇴 Norway 1.9
120 🇵🇱 Poland 1.8
121 🇰🇼 Kuwait 1.8
122 🇸🇪 Sweden 1.8
123 🇵🇾 Paraguay 1.8
124 🇮🇶 Iraq 1.7
125 🇿🇦 South Africa 1.7
126 🇵🇪 Peru 1.6
127 🇰🇪 Kenya 1.6
128 🇷🇴 Romania 1.6
129 🇧🇪 Belgium 1.6
130 🇬🇭 Ghana 1.5
131 🇮🇷 Iran 1.5
132 🇬🇹 Guatemala 1.5
133 🇯🇵 Japan 1.5
134 🇪🇨 Ecuador 1.4
135 🇨🇱 Chile 1.4
136 🇸🇰 Slovakia 1.3
137 🇧🇯 Benin 1.3
138 🇮🇩 Indonesia 1.3
139 🇨🇫 Central African Republic 1.2
140 🇩🇯 Djibouti 1.2
141 🇲🇿 Mozambique 1.2
142 🇰🇷 South Korea 1.2
143 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 1.2
144 🇨🇲 Cameroon 1.0
145 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 1.0
146 🇧🇾 Belarus 1.0
147 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan 1.0
148 🇵🇸 Palestine 1.0
149 🇮🇳 India 0.9
150 🇸🇷 Suriname 0.9
151 🇺🇸 United States 0.9
152 🇩🇪 Germany 0.9
153 🇹🇩 Chad 0.9
154 🇦🇷 Argentina 0.8
155 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 0.8
156 🇲🇱 Mali 0.8
157 🇰🇮 Kiribati 0.7
158 🇹🇯 Tajikistan 0.6
159 🇺🇦 Ukraine 0.6
160 🇳🇷 Nauru 0.6
161 🇳🇪 Niger 0.6
162 🇭🇹 Haiti 0.5
163 🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire 0.5
164 🇸🇿 Eswatini 0.5
165 🇻🇪 Venezuela 0.5
166 🇮🇱 Israel 0.5
167 🇹🇼 Taiwan 0.4
168 🇱🇸 Lesotho 0.4
169 🇷🇺 Russia 0.4
170 🇦🇫 Afghanistan 0.4
171 🇾🇪 Yemen 0.4
172 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 0.4
173 🇧🇷 Brazil 0.3
174 🇨🇩 DRC 0.3
175 🇵🇰 Pakistan 0.3
176 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 0.3
177 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands 0.2
178 🇲🇼 Malawi 0.2
179 🇨🇳 China 0.2
180 🇬🇦 Gabon 0.2
181 🇱🇾 Libya 0.2
182 🇳🇬 Nigeria 0.1
183 🇱🇷 Liberia 0.1
184 🇧🇩 Bangladesh 0.1
185 🇩🇿 Algeria 0.1
186 🇨🇬 Congo 0.1
187 🇧🇮 Burundi 0.1
188 🇲🇷 Mauritania 0.1
189 🇻🇳 Vietnam 0.0
190 🇦🇴 Angola 0.0
191 🇬🇳 Guinea 0.0
192 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea 0.0

The broader pattern is clear: small island nations and resort-driven economies dominate the upper ranks. Limited domestic markets and fewer large-scale industries often make international visitors a primary source of foreign exchange and employment.

Diversified Economies Rank Lower

The U.S. ranks 151 on the list, and international tourism accounts for just 0.86% of its GDP despite receipts totaling $251.6 billion in absolute terms.

The country least reliant on tourism is Papua New Guinea, where tourism is responsible for just 0.01% of its economic output. Guinea and Angola trail closely behind at 0.02% of their respective $24.2 billion and $115.2 billion GDPs.

For 47 countries in the data set, tourism generated below 1% of their GDP.

Tourism Reliance Clusters around Backpacking Hotspots

Clusters with higher reliance are also visible around Central America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, which are backpacking hotspots. These countries are considered affordable destinations.

While economic benefits are well documented, tourism-heavy economies are at particular risk to global shocks. Aruba’s real GDP, for instance, contracted 24% in 2020 when the pandemic grounded tourism to a halt, pushing business owners and citizens into economic precarity. It has since rebounded.

On the other hand, over-tourism can overwhelm locals and cause tension on the ground.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about tourism, check out this graphic which charts where tourists outnumber locals.