Consumers are the lifeblood of the global economy, the driving force behind market dynamics, and the ultimate arbiters of demand.
But where are the biggest congregations of consumers, and are they growing?
Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu visualizes the 20 largest consumer markets in the world, based on 2030 projections from World Data Lab, an enterprise focused on creating estimates on global consumer spending.
In this dataset, a consumer is classified as someone who spends at least $12 per day. Sources for the data include the World Bank, UN, Eurostat, and OECD databases.
Ranked first, China is expected to have slightly more than 1 billion consumers by 2030, a 15% increase from 2024. Just across the Himalayas, at second place, India will have 773 million consumers, up from 529 million today, a staggering 46% increase.
The rise of the global middle class, thanks to expanding economies and wealth, is expected to boom in this region, in turn increasing local spending ability.
This nearly 2 billion-strong consumer market in India and China could have wide-ranging effects on the global economy. Businesses may shift their focus to cater to these markets, offering more customized products and employing different marketing strategies. This could also require businesses to realign their supply chains and build new distribution networks closer to these markets.
| Rank | Country | Consumer Market (2030 Projections) |
% Change (from 2024) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | �� China | 1,062,294,436 | +15% |
| 2 | �� India | 772,929,623 | +46% |
| 3 | �� U.S. | 348,393,863 | +4% |
| 4 | �� Indonesia | 158,448,996 | +27% |
| 5 | �� Brazil | 135,902,978 | +9% |
| 6 | �� Russia | 127,324,784 | 0% |
| 7 | �� Japan | 118,264,539 | -3% |
| 8 | �� Pakistan | 99,263,255 | +30% |
| 9 | �� Mexico | 91,698,269 | +9% |
| 10 | �� Bangladesh | 87,183,060 | +59% |
| 11 | �� Vietnam | 80,383,445 | +34% |
| 12 | �� Germany | 80,370,656 | 0% |
| 13 | �� Turkey | 79,955,332 | +8% |
| 14 | �� UK | 69,179,607 | +3% |
| 15 | �� France | 67,980,532 | +3% |
| 16 | �� Egypt | 67,710,385 | +25% |
| 17 | �� Philippines | 65,545,279 | +35% |
| 18 | �� Thailand | 58,237,555 | +10% |
| 19 | �� Italy | 55,596,017 | -1% |
| 20 | �� Iran | 55,219,774 | +11% |
Following current population rankings, the U.S. (348 million consumers), and Indonesia (158 million consumers) rank third and fourth respectively. Brazil, the sixth-most populated country, will have the fifth-largest consumers class by 2030, close to 136 million people.
At the same time, not all countries will see a growing consumer base. Russia and Germany are expected to stagnate, while Japan and Italy could even see a decline, a direct representation of plateauing population growth within these countries.