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Importance of services in the world’s economy Most of the world’s economic production comes from the agriculture, industry and services sectors. The services sector, in particular, plays a much larger role in the world economy than you might think. To illustrate the impact of the services sector on the world economy, we created a collection of visualisations that show us services as a percentage of the GDP in countries across the globe By Juan Carlos – howmuch.net/articles/role-services-around-the-world
Top 3 countries in Asia by services output
1. China: US$6.3-trillion, 44.61% employment 2. Japan: US$3.4-trillion, 72.09% employment 3. India: US$1.3-trillion, 31.45% employment
Top 3 countries in Africa by services output
1. South Africa: US$214.9-billion, 71.60% employment 2. Nigeria: US$209.7-billion, 51.83% employment 3. Egypt: US$128.9-billion, 48.55% employment
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ervices account for at least 50% of the GDP in more than half of the world’s countries, and about 65% of the world’s GDP. While the world economy and job growth in the US have slowed down, the services sector is still doing well. But some believe that, while the sector is doing well for now, the international trade of services will slow down. To create the visualisations, HowMuch pulled data from the World Bank, which shows us services as a percentage of GDP, value added by services in US dollars, and employment in services as a percentage of total employment. Countries on the map are colour-coded based on the percentage of each country’s GDP represented by services. Darker shades indicate higher percentages, and lighter shades indicate lower percentages. By analysing this data, we can see how the services sector impacts the world economy as well as economies in countries around the world. Only countries with data from 2017 or earlier were considered for this analysis. China, Japan and India lead all other Asian countries in terms of value added by services. However, while China and India are two of the top three Asian countries in this sector, they are two of the few countries
SOUTH AFRICAN PROPERTY REVIEW – FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020
with under 50% of their population employed in the services sector. Meanwhile, most other Asian countries have 50% or more employment in this sector. In general, Africa seems to be less reliant on services than other regions around the world. South Africa is a notable exception, with 71.6% of all employees working in the services sector. In most African countries, the economy is dominated by the agriculture and services sectors. In the Americas, the US leads all other countries in terms of value added by services, and percentage of population employed in the services sector. In general, the services sector is the main sector for employment in the Americas. Like the Americas, most countries in Europe are heavily reliant on the services sector. For example, more than 80% of all employees in the UK work in the services sector. At least 40% of every country’s population in this region is employed in services. In most cases, employment in this sector is over 50% of each country’s population. In Oceania, data was only available for three countries: Australia, Fiji, and Timor-Leste. Of these countries, Australia is by far the most reliant on services, with 78% of its population employed in this sector. Fiji and TimorLeste, while less reliant on services than
