By 2020, rapid-growth markets will account for 72% of global employment.

Rapid-growth markets’ wide economic footprint

Comparison of GDP growth

Source: Oxford Economics

The strong prospective growth of rapid-growth markets means that their importance in the global economy will only increase over the next decade. By 2020, we expect them to account for 45% of world GDP at market exchange rates and 50% measured at PPP.

But that is only one part of the increasing significance of rapid-growth markets.

By 2020, they will account for:

• 46% of world goods exports, up from 37% in 2010
• 38% of world consumer spending and 55% of world fixed capital investment
• 72% of global employment and 60% of the world’s population
• 52% of world demand for cars and 34% for machine tools
• 48% of world production of consumer goods, 72% of iron and steel production and 42% of car production

How are commodities influenced by rapid-growth markets?

FDI inflows per capita in 2010*

Source: Oxford Economics

Critically, rapid-growth markets will also account for an even greater share of world demand for oil and other commodities by 2020.

Rapid-growth markets already account for around 40% of oil demand and around half of world demand for metals like copper, well in excess of their share of world GDP. And they account for over 70% of global demand for gold and over 60% of world food consumption.

The commodity-intensity of rapid-growth market economies, combined with their fast growth, has been a major factor putting upward pressure on commodity prices in recent years.

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