Axis Powers - Economic Resources

Economic Resources

The total Axis population in 1938 was 258.9 million, while the total Allied population (excluding the Soviet Union and the United States, who later joined the Allies) was 689.7 million. Thus the Allied powers at that time outnumbered the Axis powers in terms of population by 2.7 to 1. The leading Axis states had the following domestic populations: Germany (including recently annexed Austria, with a population of 6.8 million) had 75.5 million, Japan (excluding its colonies) had a population of 71.9 million, and Italy had 43.4 million. The United Kingdom (excluding its colonies) had a domestic population of 47.5 million and France (excluding its colonies) had 42 million.

The wartime gross domestic product (GDP) of the Axis powers combined was $911 billion at its highest in 1941 in international dollars by 1990 prices. The total GDP of the Allied powers in 1941 was $1,798 billion – with the United States alone providing $1,094 billion, more GDP than all the Axis powers combined.

The burden of the war upon the economies of the participating countries has been measured through the percentage of gross national product (GNP) devoted to military expenditures. Nearly one-quarter of Germany's GNP was committed to the war effort in 1939, and this rose three-quarters of GNP in 1944, prior to the collapse of the economy. In 1939, Japan committed 22 percent of its GNP to its war effort in China; this rose to three-quarters of Japan's GNP in 1944. Italy did not mobilize its economy; its GNP committed to the war effort remained at prewar levels.

Italy and Japan lacked industrial capacity; their economies were small, dependent on international trade, and dependent on external sources of fuel and other industrial resources. As a result, Italian and Japanese mobilization remained low, even by 1943.

Among the three major Axis powers – Germany, Italy, and Japan – Japan had the lowest per capita income, while Germany and Italy had an income level comparable to the United Kingdom.