Smallest GDP

According to the World Bank, the country with the smallest nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, whose economy was worth just $39.73 million in 2017. If cost of living differences are taken into account – adjusting the GDP calculation for purchasing power parity (PPP) – then the record holder is still Tuvalu, just by an even wider margin, with a PPP-adjusted figure of $43.93 million.

Tuvalu's tiny GDP is mostly a consequence of how small the country is, with a population of just 10,460 people and an area of only 26 km^2 (10 sq mi). If Tuvalu is assessed on its GDP per capita (dividing the value of total economic output by the number of citizens), Tuvalu is ranked 143rd out of 188 globally.

Nominal GDP can be most simply explained as the combined value of all the goods and services produced within a country in a year. It is typically stated in US dollars, converted from the local currency at single-year official exchange rates. GDP adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) takes that figure and adjusts it in accordance with the real-world purchasing power of the currency in each country.