America vs. China

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/19/china-social-media#zoomed-picture

As the two leading powers in the world today, the relationship between China and the United States has come under intense scrutiny in the past few years and all facets of their culture and society have been compared. The picture above depicts some of these comparisons.

Firstly, it is worth noting that China has a population with over 1 billion more people than the US, yet the numbers regarding the likes of pollution and military personnel are incongruous with these figures. Despite its population being vastly less, America produces well over half the amount of China's pollution, producing CO2 emissions of 5.4 tonnes compared to 7.7 in China. Also, the US military boasts 1.6 million personnel compared to 2.2 million Chinese, far less in terms of a percentage of the populace.

America's dominance in the film industry is unchallenged, however China did overtake the Americans in the arena of sport during the last Olympics, obtaining 51 gold medals compared to the Team USA's 36. America also rules the internet scene with 300 million more social media users than China , a more advanced internet infrastructure and a huge number of internet hosts.

The most telling figures though are that of the economy. America still dominate China in terms of market capitalisation, top brands and gross domestic product but it is China's steady trajectory upwards that is most notable. China's GDP growth is measured at 9.6% compared to America's 2.6%, showing that China is a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. The shift in power is most noticeable due to the fact that with a deficit of $536bn, the US has the world's largest but China's surplus of $272.5bn, again the world's largest, shows just how significant China's rising economy will become in the near future.