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It was common in European feudalism, to have a various territories to have the same ruler despite being administratively and even geographically separated. I view that it is important to show these as being a single state.

In most cases, I identify this by the primary or home territory of the ruler. For example, the Habsburg (or Hapsburg) Empire is called Austria, which also corresponds to what it was actually called during its time.

Peak: 1300 (7.8%)

France was unaffected by the Mongol conquests. Other parts of Europe grew faster after 1300.

Peak Year: 1991 (8.7%)

Japan was the first Asian nation to industrialize. With its large population it became the world’s second largest economy, until China caught up.

Peak: 2999 BC (8.7%)

Intensive agriculture came later to Mexico than the Old World, so Mexico has the highest numbers at the start of the data.

Peak: 1939 (8.8%)

World War Two sharply reduced the size of the German economy. It recovered in its absolute terms, but growth in the rest of the world reduced its relative importance.

Peak: 1 CE (9.4%)

Maddison’s data only goes back to 1 CE. At that point, Italy was relatively wealthy as result of tribute collected throught the Roman Empire.

Peak: 1870 (9.5%)

The United Kingdom was the first country to industrialize. After 1870, the United States and Germany catch up.

Peak Year: 1945 (27.7%)

The United States peak reflects that most other countries had been battered by WW2. The US proportion has fallen steadily since then as other countries recovered from the war and developed on their own.

Peak Year: 1100 BCE (33.7%)

Nadir: 1974 (2.8%)

Agriculture came to the Ganges plain early, but as the rest of the world caught up, India’s relative importance declined. The industrial revolution came late to British India and the main part of the population remained in subsistence agriculture until the 21st century. The socialist economics brought stagnation to India, but eventually economic reforms were introduced.

The figures in the Maddison and HYDE databases are usually in terms of the modern boundaries. There is some interesting in analysis to be done using those figures without reference to the historical boundaries.

Peak Year GDP: 39.8% of the world GDP in 1100 CE (22.2% of population)

Nadir: 3.7% of world GDP in 1961 (20% of population)

The peak year shows China before the Mongol invasions when China was the population and the technological leader of the world.

The nadir of China in 1961 shows the disastrous rule of Mao Zedong. China starts substantial recovery under Deng Xiaoping, surpassing the US in GDP during the early 2020’s.