India Occupies 2 percent
Share in World Stock Market Capitalisation
We
visualize the world’s largest stock markets by country in 1900 and in 2023. This
is based on each country’s percentage share of global market capitalization.
Data
for 1900 comes from the DMS Database, accessed via the UBS Global Investment
Returns Yearbook 2024. Figures for 2023 are based on the FTSE Russell All-World
Index Series Monthly Review (Dec 2023).
Data
and Key Takeaways
All
of the data we used to make this graphic can be found in the tables below.
Starting
with 1900, we can see that the UK accounted for nearly one quarter of global market
cap.
|
Rank
in 1900 |
Country |
Share
of Global Market Cap (%) |
|
1 |
UK |
24.2 |
|
2 |
U.S. |
14.5 |
|
3 |
Germany |
12.6 |
|
4 |
France |
11.2 |
|
5 |
Russia |
5.9 |
|
6 |
Austria |
5.0 |
|
7 |
Belgium |
3.4 |
|
8 |
Australia |
3.4 |
|
9 |
South Africa |
3.2 |
|
10 |
Netherlands |
2.5 |
|
11 |
Italy |
2.0 |
|
n/a |
Rest of World |
12.2 |
Founded in 1801, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is one of the world’s
oldest stock exchanges, though not as old as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
which opened in 1792.
Major companies that traded on the LSE
in 1900 were primarily involved in railways, finance, and natural resources.
Overall,
European countries accounted for over 67% of global market cap in 1900. Looking
at 2023’s data, we can see that much has changed since then.
|
Rank in 2023 |
Country |
Share of Global
Market Cap (%) |
|
1 |
U.S. |
60.5 |
|
2 |
Japan |
6.2 |
|
3 |
UK |
3.7 |
|
4 |
China |
2.8 |
|
5 |
France |
2.8 |
|
6 |
Canada |
2.5 |
|
7 |
Switzerland |
2.4 |
|
8 |
Germany |
2.1 |
|
9 |
Australia |
2.0 |
|
10 |
India |
2.0 |
|
11 |
Taiwan |
1.7 |
|
12 |
South Korea |
1.4 |
|
n/a |
Rest of World |
10.0 |
123
years later, the U.S. is firmly positioned as the world’s largest stock market.
America’s share of global market cap has grown by 46 percentage points, and it is
home to six of the world’s seven trillion-dollar companies.
Over
this time frame, we can see that Asian countries like Japan, China, and India have
also emerged as major equity markets. The latter two countries are expected to have
the world’s two biggest economies by 2075, and as a result, the size of their stock
markets could grow significantly.