In countries around the world, people are now more likely to name the U.S. as the world's leading economic power, rather than China, according to a new Pew Research Center report published Tuesday.
Why it matters: The findings underscore the U.S.' economic dominance as nations emerge from the upheaval of the pandemic and highlights the divide between the two superpowers even as U.S.-China relations remain strained.
The big picture: A median of 41% of people across 23 countries believe the U.S. to be the world’s top economic power, compared to 33% who named China.
- The share of people who rate the U.S. as the world's leading economy has increased markedly among U.S. allies like Germany, Japan and France since 2020.
- Increases favoring the U.S. were also observed in countries like Hungary, Poland and Indonesia since 2019, the last time the question was asked in those countries.
- The portion of people who believe the U.S. to be the dominant economy has dropped in India and Greece since 2019.
Zoom in: In Germany, 17% of survey respondents in 2020 said they saw the U.S. as the world's leading economic power, compared to 34% who said so in 2023, according to Pew data.
- Germany saw a corresponding drop in the portion of people who felt China was the dominant economy, from 55% in 2020 to 43% in 2023.
- In Japan, the portion of people who felt the U.S. was the dominant economy increased from 53% in 2020 to 64% in 2023, while the portion who felt China was dominant fell from 31% to 22% over the same years.
- In Indonesia, 21% of respondents in 2019 believed the U.S. to be the top economy while 24% believed it to be China. By 2023 the gap had reversed and widened, with 35% believing the U.S. to be dominant while only 16% said China.
- In India, 58% believed the U.S. to be the world's leading economy in 2019 compared to 53% in 2023. The portion who believed China to be dominant rose from 10% to 14% during the same time span.
State of play: U.S.-China relations soured last year after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, prompting China to suspend several communication channels with the U.S.
- Tensions eased last November when President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the G20 summit and pledged to improve cooperation, but spiked again in the new year with Chinese spy balloon incident.
- While China's economy has grown since ending its strict COVID lockdown policies, its growth rates have fallen well under pre-pandemic projections .
