Economies of world countries

The topic "economies of world countries" is built on the chain "country — its specialisation — the reason". Each country's economy has developed from its natural resources, population, history and location. Exams often ask you to match countries with industries, identify a country from a description, and do simple calculations.

§1. European countries

• Germany — Europe's largest economy and one of the leading exporters. Specialisations: car manufacturing (Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz), machine tools, chemicals, electrical engineering. The historic industrial heartland is the Ruhr (built on coal and steel, now restructured). The key factor is skilled labour and science.
• France — most of its electricity (about 70%) comes from nuclear power; aerospace (Toulouse), cars, perfume; Western Europe's largest agricultural producer (wheat, grapes, wine, cheese); one of the most visited countries in the world.
• The United Kingdom — birthplace of the Industrial Revolution; London is a global financial centre; North Sea oil and gas; a very high share of services.
• Italy — a sharp contrast between the industrial North (Milan, Turin — cars, fashion) and the more agrarian South; olives, grapes, tourism.
• Russia — the world's largest country by area (17.1 million km²); exports oil, gas, coal, metals, timber and wheat; most industry and people are in the European part.
• Smaller countries: the Netherlands — the port of Rotterdam, flowers and dairy farming; Switzerland — banking, watches, pharmaceuticals; Norway — oil and gas, hydropower, fishing.

§2. Asian countries

• China — the world's second-largest economy, the "workshop of the world": first in steel, coal, cars, electronics and textiles. Reforms began in 1978, and special economic zones (Shenzhen) in 1980. The economy is concentrated in the eastern coastal belt, while the west is little developed.
• Japan — very poor in natural resources: it imports raw materials and fuel and exports high-tech goods (cars, electronics, robotics, ships). Industry and population are concentrated in the Tokaido megalopolis on the Pacific coast (Tokyo — Nagoya — Osaka).
• South Korea — an "Asian Tiger": electronics (Samsung, LG), shipbuilding, cars (Hyundai, Kia).
• India — the world's most populous country; IT services (Bangalore), pharmaceuticals; tea (Assam), jute (Ganges delta), cotton, rice; the "Green Revolution".
• The Persian Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar) — economies built on oil and gas exports; Qatar — liquefied gas; the UAE (Dubai) — a trade, logistics and tourism hub.
• Indonesia — the world's largest island (archipelagic) state; palm oil, coal, rubber. Singapore — one of the world's largest ports and a financial centre.
• Turkey — textiles, car assembly, tourism, agriculture; Iran — oil and gas.

Central Asian neighbours:

• Kazakhstan — the largest country in the region and the world's largest landlocked country; oil (Tengiz, Kashagan), uranium (world leader), wheat.
• Turkmenistan — natural gas (Galkynysh, one of the world's largest fields), cotton.
• Kyrgyzstan — gold (Kumtor), hydropower on the Naryn (Toktogul).
• Tajikistan — aluminium (the Tursunzoda smelter), hydropower (Nurek, Rogun), cotton.

§3. Countries of the Americas

• The USA — the world's largest economy; high technology (Silicon Valley, California), aerospace, finance (New York). Regions: the Northeast — old industrial core and megalopolis (Boston — Washington); the Midwest — the "Corn Belt", cars (Detroit); the South — oil (Texas), the "Sun Belt"; the West — California, IT and film. In farming it leads in maize, soya, wheat and cotton.
• Canada — the second-largest country by area; forestry (timber, paper), oil (oil sands), nickel, uranium, wheat; most people live near the US border.
• Brazil — Latin America's largest economy: coffee, soya, sugar cane (biofuel — ethanol), iron ore, aircraft; the Amazon forests.
• Mexico — oil, assembly plants near the US border, a USMCA member. Argentina — wheat, beef (the pampas). Chile — copper (first in the world). Venezuela — the world's largest proven oil reserves.

§4. Africa and Australia

• South Africa — one of Africa's most developed countries: gold, diamonds, platinum, coal, metallurgy.
• Nigeria — Africa's most populous country; oil exports are the basis of its economy.
• Egypt — revenue from the Suez Canal, irrigated farming in the Nile valley (cotton), the Aswan Dam, tourism (the pyramids).
• Algeria and Libya — oil and gas; Ethiopia — the homeland of coffee; Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana — cocoa; DR Congo — cobalt and copper.
• Many African countries have single-commodity economies (dependent on one or two raw-material exports), so falling prices hurt them badly.
• Australia — a developed country and raw-material exporter: iron ore, coal, bauxite, gold, wool (sheep farming), wheat; its main buyers are Asian countries.

Worked example

"Description: few natural resources, imports raw materials, exports cars and electronics, industry concentrated in a megalopolis on the Pacific coast. Which country?"

1. "Few resources" + "imports raw materials" — Japan, South Korea or Singapore.
2. "A megalopolis on the Pacific coast" — Tokaido (Tokyo — Osaka).
3. Answer: Japan. Spotting the key phrase is the main technique for description questions.

Worked example

"China's area is about 9.6 million km² and its population about 1.4 billion. Calculate its average population density."

1. Density = population : area.
2. 1 400 000 000 : 9 600 000 ≈ 146 people/km².
3. Answer: about 146 people/km². But this is an average: the eastern coast has several hundred people per km², while the western mountains and deserts are very sparsely populated.

§5. A plan for describing a country and export structure

Nobody can memorise every country, so geographers work to a standard plan. It helps to build an orderly answer about any country and to compare two countries.
Plan of an economic-geographical description:

1. Geographical position — continent and region, neighbours, sea access, closeness to major trade routes.
2. Natural conditions and resources — relief, climate, water, minerals; which industries they support.
3. Population — size, density, growth, urbanisation, labour force.
4. Economy — GDP structure (agriculture, industry, services), industries of specialisation and their centres.
5. Internal regional differences — developed and lagging regions (for example, the North and South of Italy).
6. External economic links — the make-up of exports and imports, main partners, integration groupings.

Each point links to the one before: for example, Norway’s mountainous relief and wet climate (point 2) → cheap hydroelectric power (point 4) → energy-intensive industries such as aluminium smelting have developed.
Export structure shows how stable a country’s economy is. If a single product makes up most of its exports, the country has a single-commodity economy: when world prices fall, its income drops sharply. The exports of developed countries are diversified — machinery, chemicals, services and more.

Many countries that rely on oil exports (for example, the Persian Gulf states) are trying to diversify: they are developing tourism, logistics, finance and manufacturing (the UAE and Dubai are an example).

Worked example

"A country’s exports are worth 40 billion dollars, of which oil and oil products account for 34 billion (hypothetical figures). Find the share of oil and assess the type of economy."

1. Share: 34 : 40 · 100 = 85 %.
2. Almost all exports fall into one product group.
3. This is the mark of a single-commodity economy; if oil prices fall, export earnings will drop sharply.
4. Answer: 85 %, a single-commodity economy.

Check yourself

1. Where does France get most of its electricity?

2. What is the main regional problem of Italy's economy?

3. Which country is second in the world by area?

4. In which country is the Galkynysh field, and why is it famous?

5. In which US region is the "Corn Belt"?

6. Which is Africa's most populous country, and what does it export?

7. What is the first point of the economic-geographical description plan?

8. Exports are 25 billion dollars, of which cocoa is 15 billion (hypothetical figures). What is the share of cocoa?

Common mistakes

• Writing that France gets most of its electricity from thermal plants (it is nuclear).
• Naming China or the USA as the second-largest country by area (it is Canada).
• Linking Tajikistan with gas and Turkmenistan with aluminium (the reverse: Tajikistan — aluminium, Turkmenistan — gas).
• Assuming average population density is the same across the whole country.
• Thinking Japan is rich in resources (it depends on imported raw materials).
• Simply listing industries when describing a country: the reason for each (resources, population, position) should be shown.