The gross domestic product (GDP) of a country can be defined as the value of the total final output of all goods and services produced in a single year within a country's boundaries. The growth is expressed as a percent.
The first year of the second decade belongs to the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). China continues the phenomenal growth in GDP that it saw over the last decade. It far outpaced the other major economies and came down from the stratosphere only during the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
China and its fellow BRIC countries all showed better-than-average growth over the last decade, with only Russia stumbling seriously during the crisis (it had averaged more than 7% in the pre-crisis years but by 2009 was limping along at an estimated -7.9%). Brazil also felt the effects of the global slowdown in 2009 – with GDP shrinking by 0.6%.
In 2010 Brazil soared back up to 7.5% growth while Russia also returned to the positive. The latter looks set to match pace with Brazil over the coming few years – with above 4% growth. It is China and India, however, that are predicted to lead the pack until 2016 – both are forecasted to maintain growth above 8% over that period.
Of the major economies, Italy (which in 2008 was the seventh-largest economy in the world and the fourth-largest in Europe, according to the International Monetary Fund) was experiencing the most pain and has also had the slowest recovery, contracted with GDP growth in 2010 of only 1.3%. Japan's economy, already in the doldrums since the early 1990s, despite the government's efforts to revive economic growth, sank further when the global economy slowed in 2000-2001. Although it showed some signs of recover in 2003-2007, the global financial crisis and collapse in domestic demand led it to a contraction of 6.3% in 2009. Growth figures are forecasted to continue to see-saw for the country until 2013, when they are predicted to settle down to a slow - but steady – growth rate above 1%. Data from the International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database, April 2011 (with updates June 2011). Click on the column heading to sort the table. * For China and India estimates begin in 2010 | 
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