THE CREATORS


Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Statistics
Part 3: Crunching the Numbers
Part 4: Humanity's Greatest Thinkers







Part I: Introduction


While in the city of Chongqing (China), after writing the July 2000 Letter, I wanted to objectively identify and quantify humanity's greatest 'thinker populations'. Browsing the World Trade Organization (WTO) website one afternoon I came across a webpage called "Leading Exporters and Importers in World Merchandise Trade 1998". Ignoring the stats on imports (for consumption doesn't equate with how intelligent or productive one is), I saw the stats on exports as one way to gain a clearer insight into who were humanity's best and most productive thinkers.

To meet the necessary criteria of objectivity, the amount of merchandise a particular country exports throughout the world is the equivalent of how much this country's ideas/products are valued by billions of foreigners. That is, the amount of merchandise foreign populations buy from a particular country can be held as a barometer of that country's intellectual status within humanity. And, of course, quantification is attained in terms of the total amount of exports as expressed in $$$.

The first part of this webpage lists the top 50 exporting countries of the world, their export volume in billions of $US, % of world market share a country captures with its exports, a country's population in millions of individuals, and the % a country's population is of the world total.

The second part of this webpage I use the stats of the WTO chart to further clarify humanity's best and most productive minds, as determined by humanity itself -- some six billion individuals -- through world trade.





Part II: Statistics


Country Value of Exports
($US billions) 		% of World
Exports 		Population of
Country (millions) 		% of World
Population
1. The United States
2. Germany
3. Japan
4. France
5. United Kingdom
6. Italy
7. Canada
8. Netherlands
9. China
10. Belgium-Luxembourg
11. Hong Kong *
12. Korea, Rep. of
13. Mexico
14. Singapore *
15. Taipei (Taiwan)
16. Spain
17. Sweden
18. Switzerland
19. Russian Fed.
20. Malaysia
21. Ireland
22. Austria
23. Australia
24. Thailand
25. Brazil
26. Indonesia
27. Denmark
28. Finland
29. Saudi Arabia
30. Norway
31. India
32. Philippines
33. South Africa
34. Poland
35. Czech Rep.
36. Turkey
37. Argentina
38. Portugal
39. Israel
40. Hungary
41. United Arab Emirates
42. Venezuela
43. Chile
44. Ukraine
45. Iran
46. New Zealand
47. Columbia
48. Slovak Rep.
49. Greece
50. Algeria
 $ 682.5
$ 539.7
387.9
304.8
272.9
242.3
214.3
198.7
183.8
178.5
174.9
132.3
117.5
109.9
109.9
109.0
84.7
78.9
73.9
73.3
63.8
62.2
55.9
53.6
$ 51.1
$ 48.8
47.8
42.9
42.3
39.6
32.9
29.3
28.3
28.2
26.4
25.9
25.2
23.3
23.3
23.0
22.5
17.2
14.9
12.6
12.6
12.1
10.8
10.7
10.3
10.3
 12.6 %
10.0 %
7.2
5.6
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.7
3.4
3.3
3.2
2.4
2.2
2.0
2.0
2.0
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.4
1.2
1.1
1.0
1.0
0.9 %
0.9 %
0.9
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
 272.5 M
82.0 M
126.7
59.1
59.4
57.7
30.6
15.8
1,254.1
10.6
6.9
46.9
99.7
4.0
22.0
39.4
8.9
7.1
146.5
22.7
3.7
8.1
19.0
61.8
168.0 M
211.8 M
5.3
5.2
20.9
4.5
986.6
74.7
42.6
38.7
10.3
65.9
36.6
10.0
6.1
10.1
2.8
23.7
15.0
49.9
66.2
3.8
38.6
5.4
10.5
30.8
 4.56 %
1.37 %
2.12
.99
.99
.96
.51
.26
20.97
.18
.12
.78
1.67
.07
.37
.66
.15
.12
2.45
.38
.06
.14
.32
1.03
2.81 %
3.54 %
.09
.09
.35
.08
16.5
1.25
.71
.65
.17
1.10
.61
.17
.10
.17
.05
.40
.25
.83
1.11
.06
.65
.09
.18
.52
*Totals include significant re-exports or imports for re-export.






Part III: Crunching the Numbers


In sum, the top 50 merchandise-exporting countries represent 73.72 % of the world's population and 95.5 % of world exports ($5,177 billion of $5,422 billion). By geographical area and 197 countries (out of the world's 227), these stats can be broken down as such:

Africa produces 0.7% of world exports. Out of the 54 countries which make up the African continent, 2 make the top 50 list -- South Africa and Algeria. These two countries make up 9.52% of Africa's 770.7 million population and 1.23% of humanity's 5,979.7 million.

Oceania sells 1.2% of of world exports. Out of the 13 countries of this area, 2 make the top 50 list -- Australia and New Zealand. These two countries make up 76% of Oceania's 30.0 million population and .38% of humanity's 5,979.7 million.

South America captures 2.2% of world exports. From the 13 countries of this continent, 5 make the top 50 list -- Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, and Columbia. These five countries total 83.16% of South America's population of 339.0 million and 4.71% of the earth's 5,979.7 million people.

Latin America/Caribbean totals 2.2% of world exports. Of the 25 countries here, 1 makes the top 50 list -- Mexico. Mexico represents 57.96% of Latin America/Caribbean's 172.0 million population and 1.66% of the 5,979.7 million world total.

North America makes 16.6% of world exports. Of the two countries of North America, both make the top 50 list -- The United States and Canada. These two countries comprise 100.0% of the continent's 303.0 million population and 5.07% of the 6 billion world total.

Asia sells 26.9% of world exports. From the 49 countries making up the continent of Asia, 16 make the top 50 list -- Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, India, Philippines, Turkey, Israel, United Arab Emirates, and Iran. These 16 countries are 81.93% of Asia's total population of 3,637.0 million and 49.83% of the 5,979.7 million world count.

Finally, Europe produces 45.70% of world exports. Of the 41 countries of Europe, 22 make the top 50 list -- Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium-Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary, Ukraine, Slovak Republic, and Greece. These 22 countries make up 89.03% of Europe's 728.0 million population and 10.84% of humanity's 5,979.7 million people.

It can be determined then, excluding the above top 50 list from the 227 countries of the world, the remaining 177 countries on earth constitute 26.28% of mankind, approximately 1,570.6 million people, and they produce an accumulated total of 4.5% of exports in world merchandise trade. Some 140+ of these 177 countries, sorted by geographical area, are --
Africa: (52 countries) Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Benin, Burkino Fasa, Cape Verde, C d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guineau-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Congo (Dem. Rep. of), Equatorial Guineau, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland. Approximately 697.3 million people.

Latin America/Caribbean: (24 countries) Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haita, Jamaica, Martinique, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenedines, Trinidad and Tobago. Approximately 72.3 million people.

South America: (8 countries) Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay. Approximately 57.1 million people.

Oceania: (11 countries) Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua-New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Western Somoa. Approximately 7.2 million people.

North America: (0 countries). 0.0 million people.

Europe: (19 countries) Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Malta, San Marino, Slovenia, Yugoslavia. Approximately 79.8 million people.

Asia: (33 countries) Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Gaza, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, North Korea, Mongolia. Approximately 656.9 million people.


Part IV: Humanity's Greatest Thinkers


A few things which surprised me about this study (written Aug26-2000, revised May20-2001)

By Country: I expected the United States to hold the #1 spot, but Germany's #2 position at 10% of world exports blows me away -- for I always thought Japan was #2 in exporting goods. With only 30% of America's population, 82 million Germans export 1/10 of all world merchandise!

France at #4 surprises. The Netherlands at #8 is a huge shock -- look at the numbers! -- a population of only 15.8 million exporting 3.7% of world merchandise! Ahead of the 1,254.1 million of China and its 3.4%! Belgium-Luxembourg is unexpected -- I would have never guessed 3.3% and a #10 placement.

While still no where near the incredible efficacy of the Dutch and the Belgians, upon closer look an integrated China -- composed of the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan -- produces 8.6% of world exports, surpassing the 7.2% of the Japanese.

Between the two little tigers of East Asia, Hong Kong handily trumps Singapore in export volume. The Canada-Australia comparison: #7 to #23! I thought these two countries were similar, but Canada exports almost 4 times as much merchandise as Australia.

India exports 0.6% -- yes, that's right, zero point six percent -- of world merchandise for a population of 986.6 million. Unreal. By comparison, Norway exports 0.7% with a population of 4.5 million!

Mexico at #13 raised my eyebrows with 2.2%, equaling by itself the total output of the top five South American countries. Malaysia deserves note too with 1.4% of exports and a #20 position, outproducing Thailand and Indonesia.

By Continent: In North America -- both Canada and The United States rock making 16.6% of the world's merchandise for export. Of Asia, the overwhelming bulk of exports belong to the Orientals -- with the Japanese, Chinese (mainland China-Taiwan-Hong Kong-Singapore) and South Koreans managing an impressive 20.2% of the continent's 26.9% world total.

But the gold medal goes to Europe -- the '800 pound gorilla' of humanity -- 22 countries made the top 50 list and produce an astonishing 45.70% -- forty five point seven percent!!!! -- of world exports. The surprise winner of this study then are the Europeans who, overshadowed by the global fame of the sexy-tech and flamboyant Americans, are the best and most productive minds on the planet (through statistical analysis of leading exporters in world merchandise trade).

Of the 177 countries constituting the remaining 4.5% of world exports, the populations that do not produce valued merchandise are largely split between Africa and Asia. Africa has 52 countries, or 697.3 million people, included in this 4.5%. And Asia has some 33 countries, or 656.9 million individuals, included in the remaining 4.5%. However, as Asia does have 15 countries exporting some 26.3% of world merchandise, the distinguished loser of this study -- for whatever reasons that underlie a lack of merchandise for export -- is a tossup between the continent of Africa and the country of India.



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