Just How Big Are India and China?

Traveling to the world's two most populous countries can be an unforgettable experience. The scope and magnitude of the sheer humanity there can consume you.

Whether in Beijing, Bangalore, Chongqing, Chennai, or hundreds of other cities, the visitor is awestruck by the omnipresent construction cranes, traffic jams, and non-stop activity all around them.

As President Obama departs India, having inexorably linked economic growth in India to that of America, and now moves on to the G-20 Summit in South Korea to confront China over the Fed's recent quantitative easing, we would do well to remember just how big- or not so big- India and China really are.

Beyond their populations, which combined represent more than a third of all human beings on the planet, their aggregate GDP totals $6.1 trillion: China $4.9 trillion and India $1.2.

Conversely, the U.S. economy is $14.3 trillion- well more than double the size of the two Asian giants put together.

In fact, if you took the economic output of only seven U.S. states (California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey), it would exceed that of India + China.

It will be interesting to see how the President handles himself.

Size should matter