I was reading @[email protected] and @[email protected] exchange and I found it an interesting - albeit moot - topic. So I went and spent the last hour to download some data and filter it: I will post some numbers with no commentary. I will add my opinions after them in a spoiler.
imf.org GDP, current prices, Billion of U.S. dollars
2023 GDP Nominal
NATO 52392,344
BRICS 27330,345
2024 GDP Nominal (estimates)
NATO 55148,819
BRICS 28442,630
imf.org GDP, current prices, Purchasing power parity; billions of international dollars
2023 GDP PPP
NATO 63996,245
BRICS 66010,889
2024 GDP PPP (estimates)
NATO 66812,821
BRICS 70911,69
imf.org GDP based on PPP, share of world
2023 GDP PPPSH
NATO 34,731
BRICS 35,824
2024 GDP PPPSH (estimates)
NATO 34,339
BRICS 36,446
Brazil, People's Republic of China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Russian Federation, South Africa, United Arab Emirates
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Republic of Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States
MHO
This comparison makes no sense for a multitude of reasons, starting from the difference in effective cohesion, motivation and raison d'être of the two organizations.
Even if there were multiple tries, especially by Russia, to push for more integration in the economic and military structure, you can see how it is still incredibly fractured: if you are interested you can check on the current state of the SWIFT alternatives to see how much each of the big players still pull to be the leader.
A more apt loose organization to compare BRICS to would probably be the G7, but even there it really is not the same, considering the member list and how integrated they are in other ways. Still, a better one.
Aside from that the PPP is often touted as a great way to compare completely different economies, and it has its uses to understand how people live in different countries. Its use in a comparison like this one has, IMHO, no space.
If someone comes to me with a one Billion random-currency investment, even if for them it only buys a loaf of bread but for me it means a new factory and 100 full-time employees, if they withdraw it it is a disaster.
Then again GDP is not even the parameter we should be looking into, considering the article: We should check the international trade between China and the European Union, and make consideration about that.
Last, but not least, I used the IMF numbers because they are easy to get in a nice format. They are not the best, but they are not the worst too. More info here, have fun.
Nice data, but I think we should take a broader view too:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?end=2023&locations=RU-IN&start=2019
I semi randomly picked India because it is part of BRICS and had a similar economic trajectory: It is quite interesting playing with all those nobs and labels.
In this context I think PPP - which you showed - is a good indicator of the internal quality of living, but as far as I understand it, it has an hard time showing the difference in quality and standards of the consumer products between countries, so a dip in nominal GDP is an interesting context with the PPP adjusted rise. Less expensive things, because they are less regulated?
Aside from that Russia has almost completely pivoted to a war economy which, as far as I know, tends to give a big initial boost but it stresses and makes the real (for lack of a better term) economy crash in the long run.
What do you think about this? It is an interesting topic.