On this page, we will look at the three economic goals that every country strives to have, stable prices, low unemployment, and high sustainable growth. We will compare Japan with other countries to get a feel of where it is ranked in the world.
Stable Prices (inflation):
Japan: 0.4% increase
China: 5.4% increase
U.S.A: 3.0% increase
South Korea: 4.2% increase
Germany: 2.2% increase
Brazil: 6.9% increase
The first economic goal is stable prices. As you can see from the chart above Japan has exactly that. Even though just one year ago they had a major earthquake and tsunami, they were able to keep the inflation prices to a minimum to the other countries.
Unemployment:
Japan: 4.8%
China: 6.5%
U.S.A: 9.1%
South Korea: 3.4%
Germany: 6.0%
Brazil: 6.1%
The second goal is low unemployment. The reason why it is not full unemployment is that there would be no competition for jobs, nor opportunity for advancement or promotion. As you can see Japan has one of the lower unemployment rates compare to the countries listed above.
Unemployment (Youth ages 15-24)
Japan: 9.1%
China: N/A
U.S.A: 17.6%
South Korea: 9.8%
Germany: 11.0%
Brazil: 17.8%
As you can see Japan has a lower youth unemployment rate than most countries, even though the youth unemployment is double than the whole national average. In Japan, they allow 15 year olds to start working, where as other countries, like the United States, have labor laws that teens can not work until they are 16 years of age. But because the youth are required to go to school until they graduate highschool, many of Japan's youth can not work due to school studies.
GDP (in US dollars)
Japan: $4.389 trillion
China: $11.3 trillion
U.S.A: $15.04 trillion
South Korea: $1.554 trillion
Germany: $3.085 trillion
Brazil: $2.284 trillion
GDP Per-Capita
Japan: $34,300
China: $8,400
U.S.A: $48,100
South Korea: $31,700
Germany: $37,900
Brazil: $11,600
Growth Rate GDP:
Japan: 0.5%
China: 9.5%
U.S.A: 1.5%
South Korea: 3.9%
Germany: 2.7%
Brazil: 2.8%
The last goal is high sustainable growth. This is shown in GDP. As you can see Japan a GDP of $4.389 trillion, which is ranked fifth in the world as of 2011. This is showing that Japan has a high GDP. GDP Per-Capita shows what the average person in the labor force would make, making Japan rank a little higher than the GDP ranking. Lastly Growth Rate GDP shows the actual growth in GDP from the previous year. As you can Japan does not have a high growth rate from last year. But it is still sustainable in growth.
The "Expert's" Opinion
I believe the weakest point for Japan is economic growth. As you can see they are the lowest