Last week, China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy. While this was a major news in the global media, it was a non-event in China. China is still considered as a poor country.The per capita GDP of China was $6,675 last year compared to $32,443 for Japan.

In terms of per capita annual personal disposable income, among the BRIICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa), Russia ranks the highest as the chart shows below:

Source: Euromonitor International

Brazil ranks the second with a per capita annual personal disposable income of capita $5,141 in 2009 compared to $5,324 of Russia. For many years India and Indonesia have had the lowest per capita annual disposable incomes.

Consumer spending is a major factor in the BRIICS countries. However it varies widely between some countries. For example, private consumption accounted for 62% of the GDP in Brazil in 2009 compared to just 34.7% in China.