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It is best to see the visualization at:

from https://www.visualcapitalist.com/comparing-the-u-s-and-china-on-eight-measures-of-power/

U.S. vs. China: Which Country is the World’s #1 Superpower?Published 1
day ago on September 26, 2024
By Dorothy Neufeld
Graphics/Design:
Joyce Ma
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

This bar chart shows the balance of power between the U.S. and China in
2024 across eight pillars of strength.

Comparing the U.S. and China on Eight Measures of Power
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free
on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a
variety of trusted sources.

Today, the global balance of power is shaped by many forces, including
economic strength, trade, and a country’s defense-industrial base.

While the U.S. and China stand as two great powers, their sources of
strength vary significantly. America has unrivaled status in capital
markets, and its reserve currency status shows little sign of being
overtaken anytime soon. Meanwhile, China’s influence in international
trade has grown substantially, now being the top trading partner for 120 countries worldwide.

This graphic compares the U.S. and China across eight key measures of
power, based on analysis from Ray Dalio’s Great Powers Index 2024.

Methodology: Measuring the Strength of Nations
For this analysis, Ray Dalio identified eight core pillars that measure
a nation’s different types of strength. These eight categories are:

Trade
Innovation and Technology
Education
Economic Output
Military
Financial Center
Competitiveness
Reserve Currency Status
Scores for these categories were quantified using Z-scores, which tells
you how far a data point is from the average of the dataset, using the
typical amount of variation (a standard deviation) in the data as a
measuring stick:

Z-score of 0 = data point is at the average
Z-score of 1 = data point is one standard deviation above the average
Is the U.S. or China More Powerful?
Below, we show how the U.S. and China measure across each metric of
country power in 2024, along with their overall strength score which
sees the U.S. (0.89 overall strength score) beat out China (0.80 overall strength score):

Key Eight Measures of Power 🇺🇸 U.S. Score 🇨🇳 China Score Education 2.0 1.6
Innovation and Technology 1.9 1.8
Competitiveness -0.4 1.0
Military 2.1 0.9
Trade 1.3 1.7
Economic Output 1.7 1.6
Financial Center 2.7 0.2
Reserve Currency Status 1.9 -0.6
Overall Strength Score 0.89 0.80
As we can see, both countries are closely matched across certain metrics
like innovation and technology along with economic output, while also
featuring wide differences in categories like reserve currency status
and overall competitiveness.

When looking at tech and innovation, America is home to the world’s
largest tech companies driving AI advancements, China is quickly
developing much of the intellectual property in new industries such as semiconductors, electric vehicles, and advanced manufacturing.

In terms of economic output and strength, the gap between America and
China’s GDP stands at about $10 trillion. China could overtake America’s economy by 2035 assuming 5% in annual GDP growth, however, Ray Dalio’s
own estimates of 10-year real GDP growth have China at 4% annual growth.
The country’s fragile property sector and weak consumer demand are its biggest obstacles for its future growth prospects.

Comparing education, while America’s stagnating high-school educational system is a source of concern, its top-ranking universities play a key
role in its education score. Meanwhile, China is home to 100 elite universities, although it too has an unequal education system that disproportionately impacts lower-income households.

When it comes to military power, the U.S. has long being a global leader
in defense spending, outpacing China by more than twofold as of 2022.
Yet, this position is deteriorating. Today, China’s military
modernization means that its defense capabilities are neck and neck with America, and perhaps even greater than the U.S. according to sources
like the Global Firepower Index.

Moreover, China is increasingly growing alliances with Russia, Iran, and
North Korea through arms transfers and battlefield exercises, posing a
greater risk to America’s military dominance.

Learn More on the Voronoi App
To learn more about this topic from a labor force perspective, check out
this graphic on the growth of working age populations around the world’s major economies.

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