The figure shot up to 28.8 percent by 1999. The corresponding figure for Japan tumbled from 18.2 percent in 1933 to 14.5 percent in 1999. Some former weak economies also caught up rapidly by seizing their chances. India has had a fast average annual growth of 6.5 percent over the past decade, by laying the software card offered by the information revolution. Ireland, though a small fry in Europe, is ahead of its neighbors, cornering a third of the computer-export market in Europe and ranking as the world's second largest software exporter in 1998.
Most economists worldwide are optimistic about the prospects for the global economy.
Europe and Japan, once lagging behind, have been trying to catch up and have entered the rising stage of a new growth cycle after industrial restructuring over the past few years, with their growth rates expected to be higher than those for the last decade. Meanwhile, some developing nations are also speeding up economic restructuring by seizing the opportunity offered by the information revolution and globalization. The key to China's resurgence in the new century rests in the first 50 years, with the first decade the crucial one. After 20 years of high growth, China is now at a turning point, during which it requires a driving force for major restructuring to realize robust growth which is currently unavailable. The nation now still suffers from a relatively distorted economic structure with oversupply of some poor quality products, and fund-hungry factories in urgent need of technical revamping.