Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced usually in a year.
In 1938, the year before WW2, the United States had, by far, the largest economy worldwide in terms of GDP. The 5 Allied Great Powers that arose victorious from the war and the 3 Axis Tripartite Pact nations that were eventually defeated made up the 8 largest sovereign economies in 1938.
The U.S. GDP was over 800 billion dollars in 1938, more than double that of the second largest economy, the USSR. Even the merged economies of the U.K., its dominions, and colonies had a value of just over 680 billion 1990 dollars, showing that the U.S. had established itself as the globe’s leading economy during the interwar period despite the Great Depression.
Interestingly, the British and Dutch colonies had larger merged GDPs than their respective metropolis, which was a key motivator for the Japanese attack on these lands in East Asia during the second world war.
Trade with neutral and non-belligerent nations also contributed significantly to the economic growth of Allied and Axis powers throughout world war 2; for instance, natural resources from Latin America were vital to the American war effort, while German manufacturing often depended on Swedish iron supplies.
Below is the map of GDP in Europe before World War 2 in 1938 created by the storyinanutshell.com team, using estimates made by the economic historian Paul Bairoch. The GDP at market prices is given on the map in 1960 dollars for January 1938.
Below is the map of GDP PPP per capita in Europe before the Second World War measured in 2022 US dollars.
