9. CHINA - Dragon losing its flame

The country's external debt per capita is $303.

It's national debt is 17.5% of GDP.

Since the late 1970s China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a major global role. In 2010 China became the world's largest exporter.

In 2009, the global economic downturn reduced foreign demand for Chinese exports for the first time in many years, but China rebounded quickly, outperforming all other major economies in 2010 with GDP growth around 10%.

The economy appears set to remain on a strong growth trajectory in 2011, lending credibility to the stimulus policies the regime rolled out during the global financial crisis.

Two economic problems China currently faces are inflation - which, late in 2010, surpassed the government's target of 3% - and local government debt, which swelled as a result of stimulus policies, and is largely off-the-books and potentially low-quality.