When it comes to $1 trillion, we can understand the concept from different angles. First of all, if we pile up $10,000 bills, each $100 bill is about 011 mm thick, then the height of the entire stack will reach 109 cm. It doesn't seem like much, but it's only $10,000.
FXCM Next, let's consider a million dollars again. Imagine that 10,000 large bills with a denomination of $100 were stacked on top of each other, and the height of this stack would be more than one meter. It has to be said that this is already quite a considerable height.
So what if we apply this concept to the situation of a country? According to the latest data from the World Bank, there are 18 countries around the world with an annual gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $1 trillion. These countries include the United States, China, Japan, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Canada, Italy, Brazil, Australia, South Korea, Mexico, Spain, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the Netherlands. It is heartening that Saudi Arabia has joined this "trillion club" for the first time.
From a global economic perspective, 1979 was an important milestone, with the total size of global GDP surpassing $1 trillion for the first time. By 2006, that figure had crossed the $50 trillion mark. The most surprising thing is that in 2022, the global economy exceeded $100 trillion for the first time.
Of course, we can also understand "trillion dollars" from the perspective of listed companies. Historically, nine companies have exceeded $1 trillion in market capitalization. In August 2018, Apple became the first company in the world to surpass $1 trillion in market capitalization, and subsequently became the first company to surpass $3 trillion in market capitalization. However, before Apple, PetroChina achieved this achievement as early as 2007, with a market capitalization of nearly 8 trillion yuan, equivalent to more than $1 trillion.
Subsequently, in April 2019, Microsoft's market capitalization exceeded $1 trillion, and in December of the same year, Saudi Aramco achieved this feat as soon as it went public. In April and July 2020, Amazon and Google's parent company alphabet successively joined the "trillion club". In June and October 2021, Meta (formerly Facebook) and Tesla also managed to enter the ranks. The most recent to join the "trillion club" is Nvidia, a giant in the AI era, which has achieved a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion in May 2023.
In addition, according to a report released by the Institute of International Finance in September 2023, the total global debt reached a record $307 trillion. The report shows that global debt increased by $10 trillion in the first half of 2023, and the share of the global economy has resumed its upward trend. Over the past decade, total global debt has increased by a staggering $100 trillion, with the largest increases in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France.
Through the above examples, we can better understand the concept that $1 trillion represents. Whether it's as the height of the currency stack, or as a country's annual GDP, or as the market capitalization of a publicly traded company, this number carries enormous wealth and influence.