InsideJapan News Network

Growth in the Chinese economy has seen it overtake Japan, pushing the latter into third place behind its Asian neighbour and the world's largest economy, the US.

The overtake in growth levels came in the second quarter of this year, when China's gross domestic product (GDP) of $1.337 trillion (£851 billion) beat the $1.288 trillion seen in Japan.

And while if the first six months of the year are taken as a whole, the Japanese economy is still the bigger of the two, market analysts believe that by the end of year, China will comfortably boast the world's second biggest economy.

Commenting on the news, Sky noted that just five years back, the Chinese GDP was only half that of Japan and also pointed out that despite being home to "dozens of billionaires", the per capita income in China stands at £2,300 compared to a per capita income of £24,250 in Japan.

Written by Susan Ballion