It's shocking news.
When you consider how much despondency there is in homes and in the press these days, a quick look at how English cities stack up in terms of economic weight provides surprising insight. The Economist did much the same sort of country analysis on the various United States on 13 January when it noted the economy of California is equivalent to Italy's, and that of Texas to Russia's, and then on 24 February on the provinces of China where it reported the economy of Beijing is equivalent to that of The Philippines and that of Hong Kong to the economy of Egypt.
So, I thought I'd take a look at England's top seven cities as these are noted by demographia.com, a site of Wendell Cox, an international public policy consultancy. Figures taken from the draft April 2007 GDP-PPP estimates for metropolitan regions published by demographia.com are compared to figures taken from wikipedia quoting the IMF in 2010. To take into account the disparity created by the three year time lag, I selected countries with slighlty higher 2010 GDP figures . Here it is:
LONDON = THAILAND
Greater London with c.13.9m people and a GDP-PPP per person of c.$38,900 has a GDP of c.$541bn, roughly equivalent to that of Thailand with an economy of c.$585bn. Over 67m people live in Thailand, with just under 12m living in Bangkok alone. Thailand is the world's biggest natural and synthetic rubber producer, a leader in the production of sugar (world No.5), shrimp, pineapples and rice (world No. 6), and a growing manufacturer of motorcycles and trucks.
BIRMINGHAM = BURMA (MYANMAR)
The West Midlands with c.2.6m people and a GDP-PPP per person of c.$27,800 has a GDP of c.$72.28bn, roughly equivalent to that of Burma with an economy of c.$76.24bn. Some 50.5m people live in Myanmar (or Burma), with c. 4.35m inhabitants of the capital Yangon, which was known as Rangoon. This south-east Asian country is the world's eighth largest rice producer and biggest producer of jade and rubies.
MANCHESTER = GUATEMALA
Greater Manchester with c.2.5m people and a GDP-PPP per person of c.$26,600 has a GDP of c.$66.5bn, roughly equivalent to that of Guatemala with an economy of c.$69.96bn. There are about 14.36m Guatemalans, around 3.7m of whom are residents of their capital, Guatemala City. This Central American republic is the world's nineth largest coffee producer.
LEEDS / BRADFORD = THE LEBANON
West Yorkshire with c.2.1m people and a GDP-PPP per person of c.$27,100 has a GDP of c.$56.91bn, roughly equivalent to that of The Lebanon with an economy of c.$59.91bn. The Lebanon has a population of 4.26m or thereabouts, of whom between 2.25m and 3m live in thriving metropolitan Beirut.
NEWCASTLE = GHANA
Tyneside with c.1.4m people and a GDP-PPP per person of c.$24,100 has a GDP of c.$33.74bn, roughly equivalent to that of Ghana with c.$38.14bn. Ghana is huge, being almost as big as the entire UK. Its population is around 24.23m, of whom some 5.6m live in metro Accra. Ghana is the world's second biggest cocoa and eighth biggest gold producer.
LIVERPOOL = CAMBODIA
The Liverpool urban area with c.1.4m people and a GDP-PPP per person of c.$20,800 has a GDP of c.$29.12bn, roughly equivalent to that of Cambodia with c.$29.81bn. There are approximately 13.4m Cambodians, some 2.23m of whom live in the capital, Phnom Penh.
SHEFFIELD = BAHRAIN
The Sheffield urban area with c.1.3m people and a GDP-PPP per person of c.$21,800 has a GDP of c.$28.34bn, roughly equivalent to that of Bahrain with c.$29.66bn. Around 1.23m people live in the tiny Persian Gulf archipelago of Bahrain, about 345,000 of whom inhabit Manama, the emirate's capital. Aside its huge oil, gas and banking sectors, Bahrain is the world's tenth largest aluminium producer. It also collects considerable revenues from hosting the US Fifth Fleet. According to expatistan.com, Manama is 10% more expensive to live in than Sheffield.
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