Why China Will Eat the World

There was a report last year about China's economy called "China Eats the World." Let’s crunch some numbers …

• China has per-capita income of $5,300 per year — about 14% of U.S. per-capita income. China’s economy is growing at over 9% a year — sowing the seeds of a massive consumer economy.
• More than 4.5 million new cars hit Chinese roads in the past year alone. If China were to have the same number of cars per people as the U.S. — three for every four people — it would have close to a billion cars. Currently, there are only 800 million cars in the entire world.
• The U.S. burns 2.2 tons of coal per person per year. If China used that same amount of coal per capita, it would use three billion tons of coals per year!
• China is already the world’s largest consumer of iron ore, steel and copper. It sucks up half of the world's supplies of cement, a third of its coal, more than a third of its steel, and a fourth of its aluminum.
• And don’t get me started on China and energy. China has accounted for 40% of global growth in the oil demand in the last four years, according to the US Department of Energy, and its consumption over the next 20 years is projected to rise to 12.8 million barrels a day from 5.6 million barrels currently.

Now imagine the same story playing out in India, where an IT and industrial boom is helping to lift millions out of poverty ... in Brazil, where the commodities boom is fueling a rip-roaring economy ... and in virtually every developing country on the planet.
Over 1.3 billion people in China and another billion in India are making the transition from bicycles to scooters to cars. They’re buying new homes, kitchen appliances and electronics. They have more spendable money in their pockets. Many are suddenly taking a giant leap from the 19th century to the 21st.

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