GDP of the USSR and the USA: comparison

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

The USSR and the USA are two world superpowers that competed for supremacy in everything from the post-war period to the early 90s of the last century. A very important aspect of this struggle was the economy. Particularly great importance was given to the GDP of the USSR and the USA. Comparison of these indicators was quite a powerful tool in the propaganda of both countries. But at the same time, with the help of these economic data, we can now, through the veil of past years, restore the real state of affairs in the countries under study. So, what was the GDP of the USSR and the USA during the period of their rivalry?

The concept of gross product

But before we analyze the GDP of the USSR and the USA, let's find out what this concept is in general and what types of it exist.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of all goods and services produced in a particular state or region. If we divide the total GDP by the average population of the territory to which it belongs, then we get the gross product per capita.

Indicators of gross domestic product can be divided into two large groups: nominal and purchasing power parity. The nominal gross product is expressed in the national currency, or in terms of the currency of anyanother country at a fixed rate. When calculating GDP at purchasing power parity, the ratio of currencies to each other in terms of purchasing power with respect to a particular type of goods or services is taken into account.

Comparison of economic indicators before World War II

Although the main peak of rivalry between the USSR and the USA falls on the period after World War II, for the sake of completeness it would be useful to look at how their GDP changed in the first half of the 20th century.

The pre-war period was quite difficult for both the economy of the USSR and the US economy. In the Soviet Union at this time, the country was rebuilding after the Civil War, which resulted in, among other things, two severe famines in 1922 and 1932-1933, and the United States in 1929-1932 experienced a period of its history known as the Great Depression.

Most of all, the economy of the country of the Soviets sank in relation to the US GDP immediately after the Civil War in 1922. Back then, domestic GDP was only about 13% of that of the United States. But, in the following years, the USSR began to rapidly reduce the backlog. By the pre-war 1940, the GDP of the USSR was equal to $417 billion in terms of the American currency, which was already 44% of the US figure. That is, the Americans at that time had a gross domestic product of about $950 billion.

But the outbreak of the war hit the economy of the USSR much more painfully than the American one. This was due to the fact that the fighting took placedirectly on the territory of the Soviet Union, and the United States fought only abroad. By the end of World War II, the USSR's GDP was only about 17% of the US gross domestic product. But, again, after the recovery of production began, the gap between the economies of the two states began to rapidly decrease.

Comparison of 1950-1970 GDP

In 1950, the share of the USSR in world GDP was 9.6%. This was 35% of US GDP, lower than the pre-war level, but still much higher than the first post-war year.

In subsequent years, the difference in the size of the gross products of the two superpowers, which by that time were the USSR and the USA, was increasingly reduced, although not at such a rapid pace as before. By 1970, the Soviet GDP was about 40% of that of the United States, which was already quite impressive.

GDP of the USSR after 1970

Most of all we are interested in the state of the economy of the USSR and the USA after 1970 until the end of the existence of the Soviet Union, when the rivalry between them reached its maximum. Therefore, for this period, we consider the GDP of the USSR by years. Then we will do the same with the gross domestic product of the United States. Well, in the final stage, let's compare these results.

GDP of the USSR for 1970 - 1990 in million dollars:

1970 - 433,400;
1971 - 455,600;
1972 - 515,800;
1973 - 617,800;
1974 - 616,600;
1975 - 686,000;
1976 - 688,500;
1977 - 738,400;
1978 - 840100;
1979 - 901 600;
1980 - 940,000;
1981 - 906 900;
1982 - 959,900;
1983 - 993,000;
1984 - 938,300;
1985 - 914 100;
1986 - 946,900;
1987 - 888 300;
1988 - 866,900;
1989 - 862,000;
1990 - 778 400.

As you can see, in 1970 the gross domestic product in the USSR was 433,400 million dollars. Until 1973, it rose to 617,800 million dollars. The following year there was a slight drop, and then growth resumed again. In 1980, GDP reached the level of 940,000 million dollars, but the next year there was a significant drop - 906,900 million dollars. This situation was associated with a sharp drop in world oil prices. But, we must pay tribute to the fact that already in 1982, GDP resumed growth. In 1983, it reached its maximum - 993,000 million dollars. This is the largest value of the gross domestic product for the entire existence of the Soviet Union.

But in subsequent years, an almost continuous decline began, which clearly characterized the state of the USSR economy of that period. The only episode of short-term growth was observed in 1986. The GDP of the USSR in 1990 was $778,400 million. It was the seventh largest result in the world, and the total share of the Soviet Union in the world's gross product was 3.4%. Thus, if compared with 1970, the gross product increased by $345,000 million, but at the same time, starting from 1982, it fell by $559,600 million.

But here you need to take into account one more detail, the dollar, like any currency, is subject to inflation. Therefore, 778,400 million dollars in 1990, in terms of prices in 1970, will be equal to 1,092 million dollars. As we can see, in this case, from 1970 to 1990, we will observe an increase in GDP in the amount of 658,600 million dollars.

We considered the value of nominal GDP, but if we talk about GDP at purchasing power parity, then in 1990 it was 1971.5 billion dollars.

Gross product for individual republics

Now let's take a look at how much in 1990 the USSR's GDP was in the republics, or rather, how much, in percentage terms, each subject of the Union put into the total piggy bank of gross income.

More than half of the common pot, of course, brought the richest and most populous republic - the RSFSR. Its share was 60.33%. Then came the second most populous and third largest republic - Ukraine. The gross domestic product of this subject of the USSR was 17.8% of the all-Union. In third place is the second largest republic - Kazakhstan (6.8%).

Other republics had the following indicators:

Belarus – 2.7%.
Uzbekistan - 2%.
Azerbaijan - 1.9%.
Lithuania - 1.7%.
Georgia - 1.2%.
Turkmenistan – 1%.
Latvia – 1%.
Estonia - 0.7%.
Moldova - 0.7%.
Tajikistan - 0.6%.
Kyrgyzstan - 0.5%.
Armenia - 0.4%.

As we can see, the share of Russia in the composition of the all-Union GDP wasmore than all the other republics combined. At the same time, Ukraine and Kazakhstan also had a rather high share of GDP. The rest of the subjects of the USSR - much less.

Modern gross domestic product of the former Soviet republics

For a fuller picture, let's take a look at the GDP of the countries of the former USSR today. Let's determine whether the order of the former Soviet republics in terms of gross domestic product has changed.

GDP according to the IMF for 2015:

Russia – $1325 billion
Kazakhstan - $173 billion
Ukraine - $90.5 billion
Uzbekistan - $65.7 billion
Belarus – $54.6 billion
Azerbaijan – $54.0 billion
Lithuania – $41.3 billion
Turkmenistan – $35.7 billion
Latvia – $27.0 billion
Estonia - $22.7 billion
Georgia – $14.0 billion
Armenia – $10.6 billion
Tajikistan – $7.82 billion
Kyrgyzstan – $6.65 billion
Moldova – $6.41 billion

As you can see, Russia remained the undoubted leader in terms of GDP of the USSR countries. At the moment, its gross product is 1325 billion dollars, which in nominal terms is even more than it was in 1990 as a whole in the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan came in second place, ahead of Ukraine. Uzbekistan and Belarus also switched places. Azerbaijan and Lithuania remained in the same places where they were in Soviet times. But Georgia noticeably slipped, letting Turkmenistan, Latvia and Estonia go ahead. Moldova has fallen to the last place among the post-Soviet countries. And she missedforward, Armenia, which was last in Soviet times in terms of GDP, as well as Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

US GDP from 1970 to 1990

Now let's take a look at the dynamics of changes in US gross domestic product over the last period of the existence of the USSR from 1970 to 1990.

US GDP dynamics, mln USD:

1970 - 1,075,900.
1971 - 1,167,800.
1972 - 1,282,400.
1973 - 1,428,500.
1974 - 1,548,800.
1975 - 1,688,900.
1976 - 1,877,600.
1977 - 2,086,000.
1978 - 2,356,600.
1979 - 2,632,100.
1980 - 2,862,500.
1981 - 3,211,000.
1982 - 3,345,000.
1983 - 3,638,100.
1984 - 4,040,700.
1985 - 4,346,700.
1986 - 4,590,200.
1987 - 4,870,200.
1988 - 5,252,600.
1989 - 5,657,700.
1990 - 5,979,600.

As we can see, the nominal GDP of the USA, in contrast to the gross domestic product of the USSR, grew continuously from 1970 to 1990. Over 20 years, it has increased by $4,903,700 million

The current level of the US economy

Since we have already looked at the current state of the level of gross domestic product in the post-Soviet countries, we should find out how the United States is doing with this matter. According to the IMF, US GDP in 2015 was $17,947 billion, more than three times what it was in 1990.

Also, this value is several times greater than the GDP of all post-Soviet countries combined, including Russia.

Comparison of the gross domestic product of the USSR and the USA for the period from 1970 to 1990

If we compare the level of GDP of the USSR and the USA for the period from 1970 to 1990, we will see that if in the case of the USSR, starting from 1982, the gross product began to decline, then in the United States it continuously grew.

In 1970, the gross domestic product of the USSR was 40.3% of that of the United States, and in 1990 it was only 13.0%. In natural terms, the gap between the GDP of both countries reached $5,201,200 million

For reference: Russia's current GDP is only 7.4% of the US GDP. That is, in this regard, the situation, compared to 1990, has worsened even more.

General conclusions on the GDP of the USSR and the USA

Throughout the existence of the USSR, its gross domestic product was significantly inferior in size to that of the United States. Even in the best years for the Soviet Union, it was about half the size of the US gross domestic product. In the worst periods, namely after the Civil War, and before the collapse of the Union, the level dropped to 13%.

The attempt to catch up with the United States in terms of economic development ended in failure, and in the early 90s of the last century, the USSR ceased to exist as a state. At the same time, in 1990, the situation with the ratio of the GDP of the USSR to the GDP of the United States was approximately at the level of the situation after the end of the Civil War.

GDP level of modern Russia moremore behind the American indicators than it was in 1990 in the USSR. But there are objective reasons for this, since Russia currently does not include those republics that made up the Soviet Union and also contributed to the treasury of the total GDP.