Infographic: China Is the World's Manufacturing Superpower

While the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak will undoubtedly be most severe in China, the negative effects of the pandemic won’t be confined by the Great Wall. After all, China is the world’s manufacturing hub and the ripple effect of shutdowns across the country is already leading to supply constraints in various industries all around the globe.

According to data published by the United Nations Statistics Division, China accounted for 28 percent of global manufacturing output in 2018. That puts the country more than 10 percentage points ahead of the United States, which used to have the world’s largest manufacturing sector until China overtook it in 2010.

With total value added by the Chinese manufacturing sector amounting to almost $4 trillion in 2018, manufacturing accounted for nearly 30 percent of the country’s total economic output. The U.S. economy is much less reliant on manufacturing these days: in 2018, the manufacturing sector accounted for just 11 percent of GDP in the world’s largest economy.