China is officially the world's largest economy

According to IMF data, China's GDP in purchasing power parity exceeds for the first time since 1872 that of the United States.

The news went unnoticed. For the first time in more than a century, the United States is no longer the world's largest economy. Citing figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the american columnist Brett Arends says so on the website MarketWatch that the chinese have surpassed the americans. Thus, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expressed in chinese Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) amounted to $ 17,632 billion in 2014 against $ 17 416 billion in the United States. Beijing represents 16.5% of the global economy in terms of real purchasing power when Washington is "only" 16.3%.
GDP in PPP compares the economic performance of different countries, PPPs indicating that the inhabitants of a country can actually buy with their currency. Purchasing power is measured relative to a basket of products that includes more than 3,000 goods and services.

If the news is however not surprising that - as of 2011, Beijing had in fact doubled Washington's national wealth - it is nevertheless a "geopolitical earthquake earth", as stated Brett Arends. The american recalls that "throughout history, military and political power has always depended on the economic power." 
And the journalist to say that if "it does not change much tomorrow or the week, it will change almost everything on the long term". Brett Arends recalled the United Kingdom and the United States, who shared the crown of world's largest economy since 1815, forged the world, being at "the forefront in terms of Civil Liberties, democratic and constitutional rights process". 
The gap should also continue to grow according to IMF data. The international organization predicts that in 2019, China's national wealth could rise to $ 26,800 billion, while that of the United States would reach $ 22,000 billion.