US vs China: Oil Production and GDP per capita

This motion chart is comparing the energy production (including crude oil, natural gas, and oil from non-conventional sources) and the Per Capita growth for the most of the world going as far back as 1960. The chart shows the early days of US energy dominance , China's growing energy consumption and the US fall from the number one spot. It also shows how the GDP per capita has grown through the years.

The first thing that you notice is how in 1960 the United States is the leading energy produce. The United States also had the best GDP per capita narrowly beating Sweden. Throughout the 60's energy production was rising sharply. You will notice that China does not appear until 1971 as a energy producer of any noticeable size. This was in part to the country rebuilding during the 50's and 60' from WW2 as well as its new  Communist government trying to organize the country.

During the 70's the US was in a enrgy crisis because of the oil embargo the OAPEC (Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries) placed on the country for supplying weapons to the Israeli military. This created  a stall and reduction in oil production and GDP was stagnant for most of the decade. The whole time China's oil production has grown at a trmendously high pace while its GDP per capita was only slightly increasing. In 2007 China managed to outproduce the US but its GDP per capita is 17 times smaller than that of the US