BEIJING — For the first time, people responding to a global survey are more likely to view China and not the United States as the world’s leading economic power.
The results of the Pew Research Center survey do not reflect reality: America’s economy remains well ahead of its closest rival. But it does highlight China’s steadily rising public image amid rapid growth, as well as the erosion of the U.S. status as the global superpower, especially after the 2008 financial crisis left it struggling with recession and high unemployment.
The 21-nation poll found that 41 percent of respondents said China was the world’s economic power, while 40 percent said the U.S. was.
Among the 14 nations that were asked the same question in 2008, the margin was wider: 45 percent placed the U.S. on top four years ago, with just 22 percent for China. But in the latest poll, China was favored 42 percent to 36 percent.
The trend was especially strong in Europe: 58 percent of people in Britain saw China as the leading economy, versus just 28 percent for the United States.
Even in the U.S., respondents were about evenly divided on the question. Turkey and Mexico were the only countries where more than half of people consider the United States the leading economic power.
“Over the last few years, perceptions about the global economic balance of power have been shifting,” Pew said in the report.
