The Current Account Balance is a measure of a country’s “profitability”. It is the sum of profits (losses) made from trading with other countries, profits (losses) made from investments in other countries, and cash transfers, such as remittances from expatriates.
World: Current Account Balance, 2010
As the infographic shows, there isn’t much middle ground when it comes to a current account balance. Most countries have:
- large deficits (America, most of Europe, Australia, Brazil, India)
- large surpluses (China, most of Southeast Asia, Northern European countries, Russia, Gulf oil producers).
There are a few countries with
- small deficits (most Central American states, Pakistan)
- small surpluses (most Baltics)
…but they are largely outnumbered by the clear winners and losers of world trade.
The above is not a per-capita infographic, so larger countries tend to be clear winners or losers, while smaller countries are more likely to straddle the divide. Here is the per-capita Current Account Balance map:
World: Current Account Balance per capita, 2010
This can be interpreted as how much people around the world earn from eachother:
- Anglophones (people in America, Canada, UK, Australia) chock up some of the biggest deficits, as do people in the Mediterranean
- Oil producers (Saudis, Libyans, Norwegians) profit the most off trade, as do industrious Germans and Japanese. I sense an automobile theme
- Most of us are somewhere in the middle
- Records: Icelanders have the biggest deficits, Singaporeans the biggest surpluses
On the topic of English-speakers running deficits, here is a recent BBC article that explores the link between the English language and the act of saving money.
2010 Current Account Balance and Population data from World Bank; graphics produced on R.
