Statistical Analysis of the Economic Development of the Brics Countries

Abstract

The purpose of the research. The political and economic balance between the major world powers in the 1950s was disrupted by the rejection of the socialist model of the economy by a number of countries. For this reason, countries such as Russia and China have been withdrawn from geopolitical space for decades and have re-built their economies and foreign economic ties. The exit from the "shadow" of the economies of these powers in the 2000s led to the movement of the processes of changing the unipolar world order to a multipolar one. A clear catalyst for this process was the formation of the BRICS political and economic union, which brought together the largest developing countries of the world. The topic of positioning of five countries in the world space, as well as the identification of factors that have a favorable impact on their convergence, has become relevant, in this regard, the aim of the study is to assess the position of the BRICS countries in the world community, on the quantitative side, in an inextricable connection with the qualitative basis of socio-economic laws and patterns.Materials and methods. Statistical methods such as tabular, graphical, generalization and correlation regression analysis were used to achieve this goal. Data sources were from the World Bank, the UN Statistical Committee and the BRICS national statistical services.Results. The main results are: on the basis of a critical analysis of the theoretical literature and empirical studies, a methodology for conducting the study was developed, which includes the use of statistical tools; during the period 1990-2018, the position of the BRICS countries in geo-economic space strengthened, as evidenced by the growth of the total share of the Union's members in world GDP; China and India have made a significant leap in economic capacity-building as a result of policies to attract foreign investment and technology; GDP growth in the 2000s continued in China and India, while in Russia, Brazil and South Africa a slowdown was observed, which, according to the forecast, would lead to a further decline in the growth rate of these countries; the main factor that has a positive impact on the growth of the five economies is services, which is fully consistent with the global trend.Conclusion. The results will be useful for researchers in macroeconomic dynamics and geo-economics, in particular the approaches used in the article; it is possible to apply to similar political and economic unions and associations. General conclusions can also be recommended to persons responsible for making state decisions in the field of integration of Russia into the world space, as well as specialists in sociology, social economics and political science.