Pssst, wanna win a sure bet? I’ll bet you a dollar that 25 > 147. How could you lose?
OK, I get it, you think it’s a trick. I’ll make it easy for you, double or nothing, and this time the bet is that 25 > 1,623,548,976. Ah, you like that bet even better. Great, we’re on!
Ummm, I might have forgotten to mention one little detail: it all depends on the units we’re comparing. We’re going to be doing a bit of apples-to-oranges, but at least it’s all fruit rather than comparing apples to aardvarks, right?
Many countries = few corporations for one huge slice of the economic pie
That number 25 represents the highest earning corporations around the globe. Their combined revenue is greater than the combined economies (GDP) of 147 of the world’s 194 nations.
As I said, the comparisons aren’t exactly the same; the revenue (income or sales) of a corporation isn’t exactly like the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country. Yet, in most ways, it’s the closest we can come to comparable measures of economic activity by both types of entities.
More than three-quarters of the countries of the globe produce, manufacture, grow, build, sell, and provide goods and services that are worth less in total than the amount earned by just 25 of the world’s largest corporations.
So, let that sink in as you scroll down this list. I have purposely included the entire list for its visual impact; as the names go past, I want you to think about just how many nations — and their peoples — are on it, as depicted in the purplish segment of the pie chart on the right.
Country |
Population |
Gross Domestic Product |
Tuvalu |
10,782 |
$34,000,000 |
Nauru |
10,084 |
$102,000,000 |
Kiribati |
115,300 |
$166,000,000 |
Marshall Islands |
55,000 |
$183,000,000 |
Palau |
17,800 |
$293,000,000 |
Federated States of Micronesia |
104,600 |
$322,000,000 |
São Tomé and Príncipe |
187,356 |
$351,000,000 |
Tonga |
103,252 |
$395,000,000 |
Dominica |
71,293 |
$525,000,000 |
Comoros |
806,153 |
$617,000,000 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
109,557 |
$771,000,000 |
Vanuatu |
289,700 |
$774,000,000 |
Samoa |
197,448 |
$786,000,000 |
Saint Kitts and Nevis |
46,204 |
$917,000,000 |
The Gambia |
2,101,000 |
$965,000,000 |
Grenada |
103,328 |
$1,016,000,000 |
Guinea-Bissau |
1,553,822 |
$1,126,000,000 |
Solomon Islands |
651,700 |
$1,202,000,000 |
Saint Lucia |
178,844 |
$1,379,000,000 |
Timor-Leste |
1,167,242 |
$1,417,000,000 |
Seychelles |
94,205 |
$1,427,000,000 |
Antigua and Barbuda |
86,295 |
$1,449,000,000 |
Djibouti |
956,985 |
$1,589,000,000 |
Cape Verde |
537,661 |
$1,617,000,000 |
Central African Republic |
4,659,080 |
$1,756,000,000 |
Belize |
387,879 |
$1,765,000,000 |
Liberia |
4,289,520 |
$2,101,000,000 |
Lesotho |
2,233,339 |
$2,200,000,000 |
Bhutan |
800,280 |
$2,237,000,000 |
Greenland |
55,877 |
$2,441,000,000 |
Faroe Islands |
50,750 |
$2,613,000,000 |
Burundi |
10,400,938 |
$3,007,000,000 |
Andorra |
78,264 |
$3,249,000,000 |
Guyana |
777,859 |
$3,446,000,000 |
Maldives |
344,023 |
$3,591,000,000 |
Suriname |
541,638 |
$3,621,000,000 |
Sierra Leone |
7,092,113 |
$3,669,000,000 |
Swaziland |
1,145,970 |
$3,727,000,000 |
Montenegro |
622,387 |
$4,173,000,000 |
Togo |
7,178,000 |
$4,400,000,000 |
Barbados |
285,719 |
$4,588,000,000 |
Fiji |
884,887 |
$4,632,000,000 |
Mauritania |
3,806,719 |
$4,635,000,000 |
Malawi |
17,373,185 |
$5,442,000,000 |
Liechtenstein |
38,111 |
$5,488,000,000 |
Bermuda |
63,779 |
$5,574,000,000 |
Somalia |
14,742,523 |
$6,217,000,000 |
Guinea |
11,883,516 |
$6,299,000,000 |
Kyrgyzstan |
6,140,200 |
$6,551,000,000 |
Moldova |
3,550,900 |
$6,750,000,000 |
Tajikistan |
8,931,000 |
$6,952,000,000 |
Kosovo |
1,783,531 |
$7,047,000,000 |
Niger |
20,651,070 |
$7,509,000,000 |
Republic of the Congo |
5,260,750 |
$7,834,000,000 |
Haiti |
10,911,819 |
$8,023,000,000 |
Rwanda |
11,809,300 |
$8,376,000,000 |
Benin |
11,002,578 |
$8,583,000,000 |
The Bahamas |
382,460 |
$9,047,000,000 |
Chad |
14,900,000 |
$9,601,000,000 |
Madagascar |
25,571,000 |
$9,991,000,000 |
Equatorial Guinea |
1,222,442 |
$10,179,000,000 |
Namibia |
2,368,747 |
$10,267,000,000 |
Armenia |
2,972,900 |
$10,547,000,000 |
Macedonia |
2,073,702 |
$10,900,000,000 |
Malta |
434,403 |
$10,949,000,000 |
Mozambique |
28,861,863 |
$11,015,000,000 |
Mongolia |
3,212,975 |
$11,160,000,000 |
Brunei |
422,678 |
$11,400,000,000 |
Albania |
2,870,324 |
$11,927,000,000 |
Burkina Faso |
19,632,147 |
$12,115,000,000 |
Mauritius |
1,264,887 |
$12,164,000,000 |
Nicaragua |
6,305,956 |
$13,231,000,000 |
South Sudan |
11,868,209 |
$13,282,000,000 |
Jamaica |
2,728,864 |
$14,027,000,000 |
Mali |
18,542,000 |
$14,045,000,000 |
Gabon |
2,025,137 |
$14,214,000,000 |
Georgia |
3,729,600 |
$14,333,000,000 |
Senegal |
15,726,037 |
$14,765,000,000 |
Botswana |
2,230,905 |
$15,275,000,000 |
Laos |
6,492,400 |
$15,903,000,000 |
Zimbabwe |
14,542,235 |
$16,289,000,000 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
3,511,372 |
$16,560,000,000 |
Papua New Guinea |
8,151,300 |
$16,929,000,000 |
Afghanistan |
29,724,323 |
$19,469,000,000 |
Zambia |
16,405,229 |
$19,551,000,000 |
Cyprus |
854,800 |
$19,802,000,000 |
Cambodia |
15,848,495 |
$20,017,000,000 |
Iceland |
350,710 |
$20,047,000,000 |
Trinidad and Tobago |
1,356,633 |
$20,989,000,000 |
Nepal |
28,825,709 |
$21,144,000,000 |
Honduras |
8,866,351 |
$21,517,000,000 |
Estonia |
1,352,320 |
$23,137,000,000 |
Cameroon |
23,794,164 |
$24,204,000,000 |
Uganda |
37,673,800 |
$25,528,000,000 |
El Salvador |
6,581,940 |
$26,797,000,000 |
Yemen |
28,250,000 |
$27,318,000,000 |
Paraguay |
7,052,983 |
$27,441,000,000 |
Latvia |
1,923,500 |
$27,677,000,000 |
Libya |
6,374,616 |
$29,153,000,000 |
Bahrain |
1,451,200 |
$31,859,000,000 |
Bolivia |
11,145,770 |
$33,806,000,000 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo |
81,339,900 |
$34,999,000,000 |
Côte d'Ivoire |
24,294,750 |
$36,165,000,000 |
Turkmenistan |
5,758,000 |
$36,180,000,000 |
Serbia |
7,040,272 |
$37,745,000,000 |
Azerbaijan |
9,898,085 |
$37,848,000,000 |
Jordan |
10,140,390 |
$38,655,000,000 |
Tunisia |
11,446,300 |
$42,063,000,000 |
Ghana |
29,614,337 |
$42,690,000,000 |
Lithuania |
2,802,047 |
$42,739,000,000 |
Slovenia |
2,065,895 |
$43,991,000,000 |
Macau |
653,100 |
$44,803,000,000 |
Tanzania |
51,557,365 |
$47,431,000,000 |
Belarus |
9,484,300 |
$47,433,000,000 |
Lebanon |
6,082,000 |
$47,537,000,000 |
Croatia |
4,154,213 |
$50,425,000,000 |
Bulgaria |
7,050,034 |
$52,395,000,000 |
Uruguay |
3,493,205 |
$52,420,000,000 |
Panama |
4,098,135 |
$55,188,000,000 |
Costa Rica |
4,947,490 |
$57,436,000,000 |
Luxembourg |
602,005 |
$59,948,000,000 |
Oman |
4,639,678 |
$66,293,000,000 |
Uzbekistan |
32,345,000 |
$67,220,000,000 |
Myanmar |
53,370,609 |
$67,430,000,000 |
Guatemala |
16,176,133 |
$68,763,000,000 |
Kenya |
49,699,862 |
$70,529,000,000 |
Dominican Republic |
10,169,172 |
$71,584,000,000 |
Ethiopia |
94,352,000 |
$72,374,000,000 |
Sri Lanka |
21,444,000 |
$81,322,000,000 |
Slovakia |
5,443,120 |
$89,552,000,000 |
Angola |
29,250,009 |
$89,633,000,000 |
Ukraine |
42,322,028 |
$93,270,000,000 |
Sudan |
40,782,742 |
$95,584,000,000 |
Ecuador |
16,998,400 |
$97,802,000,000 |
Morocco |
34,677,200 |
$101,445,000,000 |
Kuwait |
4,082,704 |
$112,812,000,000 |
Hungary |
9,771,000 |
$124,343,000,000 |
Kazakhstan |
18,212,800 |
$133,657,000,000 |
Qatar |
2,685,053 |
$152,469,000,000 |
Algeria |
41,697,498 |
$156,080,000,000 |
Iraq |
38,274,618 |
$171,489,000,000 |
New Zealand |
4,881,060 |
$185,017,000,000 |
Romania |
19,638,000 |
$186,691,000,000 |
Peru |
31,826,018 |
$192,094,000,000 |
Czech Republic |
10,610,055 |
$192,925,000,000 |
Greece |
10,768,193 |
$194,559,000,000 |
Vietnam |
93,700,000 |
$202,616,000,000 |
TOTAL [1,2] |
1,623,548,976 |
$4,993,134,000,000 |
These 25 corporations had combined revenue of more than 5 trillion dollars in 2016, the same year as the figures shown in the table above.
Corporation |
Industry |
Home country |
Revenue |
Walmart |
General merchandisers |
United States |
$485,873,000,000 |
State Grid |
Utilities |
China |
$315,199,000,000 |
Sinopec Group |
Petroleum refining |
China |
$267,518,000,000 |
China National Petroleum |
Petroleum refining |
China |
$262,573,000,000 |
Toyota |
Motor vehicles and parts |
Japan |
$254,694,000,000 |
Volkswagen Group |
Automotive |
Germany |
$240,264,000,000 |
Royal Dutch Shell |
Petroleum refining |
Netherlands United Kingdom |
$240,033,000,000 |
Berkshire Hathaway |
Conglomerate |
United States |
$223,604,000,000 |
Apple |
Computers, consumer electronics, and entertainment |
United States |
$215,639,000,000 |
Exxon Mobil |
Petroleum refining |
United States |
$205,004,000,000 |
McKesson |
Healthcare |
United States |
$198,533,000,000 |
BP |
Petroleum refining |
United Kingdom |
$186,606,000,000 |
United Health |
Healthcare |
United States |
$184,840,000,000 |
CVS Health |
Healthcare |
United States |
$177,526,000,000 |
Samsung Electronics |
Electronics and electrical equipment |
South Korea |
$173,957,000,000 |
Glencore |
Mining and crude oil production |
Switzerland United Kingdom |
$173,883,000,000 |
Daimler |
Automotive |
Germany |
$169,483,000,000 |
General Motors |
Automotive |
United States |
$166,380,000,000 |
AT&T |
Telecommunications |
United States |
$163,786,000,000 |
Exor |
Diversified financials |
Italy |
$154,894,000,000 |
Ford Motor Company |
Automotive |
United States |
$151,800,000,000 |
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China |
Financial services |
China |
$147,675,000,000 |
AmerisourceBergen |
Pharmaceuticals |
United States |
$146,850,000,000 |
China Construction Engineering |
Construction |
China |
$144,505,000,000 |
AXA |
Financial services |
France |
$143,722,000,000 |
TOTAL [3] |
|
|
$5,194,841,000,000 |
If you aren’t gobsmacked yet by this corporate concentration of economic clout, try this:
Walmart alone has revenue greater than the combined GDP of the first 81 countries in the list above, or 42% of the countries of the world.
The smallest company of the Top 25, AXA, earns more than the the first 52 nations in the list, or more than one quarter of the nations of the world combined.
Any one of these global corporations is an economic power in its own right on the world stage. Their financial clout is far greater than the governments of all but a small number of highly developed nations.
People power compared to corporate power
To put this in a different perspective, let’s think about the number of people rather than the number of nations. Those 25 companies garner more revenue than the total amount of economic activity produced by all the farmers, factory workers, salespeople, miners, plumbers, accountants, and every other citizen in those countries, all 1.6 billion of them.
That means 22% of the population of Earth, working at an infinite variety of jobs, generates less economic output than just 25 companies.
To be sure, those are not pure profits and the companies employ some of those very same people, among their global workforce of 10.2 million persons. Also, their activities have ripple effects that stimulate or create external economic activity. For example, a petrochemical company has its own employees who earn and spend paychecks, its products let chefs and electricians and doctors commute to their jobs (and thus also generate economic activity), and countless suppliers sell the company goods and services which are vital to its operations.
Additionally, the companies have many stockholders, some as individuals and others as institutional investors like pension funds that benefit large numbers of people. Moreover, those companies are part of and involved in the economic activities of the world’s nations, not a discrete and separate faction as if we were discussing Earth’s economy in relation to a hypothetical Martian economy.
Still, it’s a tremendous concentration of economic power right here on our own planet.
Expanding our global view of economic relativity
Of course, 25 is just a fraction of the number of economically powerful corporations around the world. Everywhere we turn, we see their stores, their products, and their advertisements. Many of the big companies you might be thinking of aren’t even on the Top 25 list, such as Amazon, Verizon, Disney, or GE.
So let’s broaden our horizons and look at the global Fortune 500 companies, which, as you might have guessed, is a list of the 500 companies worldwide that garner the most money. Together, they earned 27.7 trillion dollars in 2016 out of the global total of 75.4 trillion. [4, 5]
Their share of the world’s economy that year was 37%. Well over one-third of all goods sold and services rendered throughout the entire planet was revenue of those 500 corporations.
That means we need to add another 31 nations to the list above. The Fortune 500 companies have revenues roughly equal to the combined GDP of 178 of the world’s nations, or 92% and all but 16 of the countries on Earth.
Those 31 countries represent an additional 1.7 billion people. So putting it all together, the Fortune 500 companies have revenues that exceed the total economic activity of over 3.3 billion people, or more than 44% of the global population.
Of course, the 16 nations not included in this comparison are some of the world’s economic powerhouses, like the United States and China. Both of those countries have large populations themselves.
Nevertheless, the concentration of economic activity in such a relatively small number of companies around the world most likely surprises you, and rightfully so. We are in uncharted territory, historically speaking. Although there have been vastly rich and powerful companies in the past — such as the storied and controversial East India Company — their percentage of the global economic pie paled in comparison to the results of modern day globalization.
No one knows the future but we can often rely on history to guide us to reasonable conclusions about it. The past several decades have seen incredible changes in corporate status, with ever more and larger mergers and acquisitions.
Every year the media breathlessly report a new record, as one corporate behemoth swallows up another Goliath, resulting in fewer competitors and those who remain swelling to mammoth size and globe-spanning reach. Regulators in major developed regions, such as the U.S. and the European Union, used to be more vigilant about preventing too much consolidation; now they seem much more lax, allowing mergers that create oligopolies (competition limited to a few dominant players).
We should expect that to continue. The numbers and graphs above, unless history throws us a curve, will continue to show greater economic concentration as time goes by. To steal and turn a phrase, less will be more: fewer companies will control far more wealth than ever before.
So now you see how 25 can be greater than even gigantic numbers — it all depends on what you’re looking at. We know the answer to the question
“Can 25 be greater than 147 or even 1,623,548,976?”
is Yes. Now we need to ask and answer a much more important question:
“Should it be so?”
Please have your two dollars ready for collection as you pass through the door on your left to view the Egress. Thanks for playing!
Coming up in the not too distant future: A look at what this data actually means for us as societies and sovereign nations, now and in the years to come. This diary was originally going to be part 1, or the “teaser”, for a series about corporations. I’ve decided to publish it as a stand-alone story while I finish working on the series. Look for those soon or “follow” me and see them in your feed when I publish them.
Sources
[1] List of countries by GDP (nominal), World Bank data, at Wikipedia
[2] List of countries and dependencies by population at WIkipedia
[3] List of largest companies by revenue at Wikipedia
[4] Global 500 at Fortune magazine
[5] Global gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices from 2012 to 2022 at Statista