Standings of various countries in terms of GDP

As per International Monetary Fund (2006)

1  United States 13,194,700
2  Japan 4,366,459
3  Germany 2,915,867
4  People's Republic of China 2,644,642
5  United Kingdom 2,398,946
6  France 2,252,213
7  Italy 1,852,585
8  Canada 1,275,273
9  Spain 1,225,750
10  Brazil 1,067,706
11  Russia 984,925
12  South Korea 888,267
13  India 873,659
14  Mexico 840,012
15  Australia 755,659


The interesting part is that since GDP is increased by various factors explained below so, here is a catch...What is a country is expending a lot on its defense or citizens are expending on Medical healthcare...
That might just shoot up their GDP..so its debatable how good a measure of countrys growth is GDP.

Economy

Since, most important aspect of the world that we live in today is economy around us.



Lets understand what exactly do we mean by Economy?

Simply, the system of production and distribution and consumption .



Often we hear the term GDP(Gross Domestic Product)

A region's gross domestic product, or GDP, is one of the ways of measuring the size of its economy. The GDP of a country is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time (usually a calendar year). It is also considered the sum of value added at every stage of production (the intermediate stages) of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time.
The most common approach to measuring and understanding GDP is the expenditure method:
GDP = consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports), or,GDP "Gross" means depreciation of capital stock is not subtracted. If we substitute gross investment by net investment (which is gross investment minus depreciation) in the equation above, then we obtain the formula for net domestic product. Consumption and investment in this equation are expenditure on final goods and services. The exports minus imports part of the equation (often called net exports) then adjusts this by subtracting the part of this expenditure not produced domestically (the imports), and adding back in domestic area (the exports).



C is private consumption in the economy. This includes most personal expenditures of households such as food, rent, medical expenses and so on but does not include new housing.
I is defined as investments by business or households in capital. Examples of investment by a business include construction of a new mine, purchase of software, or purchase of machinery and equipment for a factory. Spending by households on new houses is also included in Investment. In contrast to its colloquial meaning, 'Investment' in GDP does not mean purchases of financial products. Buying financial products is classed as 'saving', as opposed to investment. The distinction is (in theory) clear: if money is converted into goods or services, it is investment; but, if you buy a bond or a share of stock, this transfer payment is excluded from the GDP sum. Although such purchases would be called investments in normal speech, from the total-economy point of view, this is simply swapping of deeds, and not part of real production or the GDP formula.
G is the sum of government expenditures on final goods and services. It includes salaries of public servants, purchase of weapons for the military, and any investment expenditure by a government. It does not include any transfer payments, such as social security or unemployment benefits.
X is gross exports. GDP captures the amount a country produces, including goods and services produced for other nation's consumption, therefore exports are added.
M is gross imports. Imports are subtracted since imported goods will be included in the terms G, I, or C, and must be deducted to avoid counting foreign supply as domestic.



Lets keep it simple for now to make us aware of the Economic aspect and GDP.