In 1990, Europe accounted for 28% of global GDP, and China accounted for less than 2%.

Omissions

• The claim does not specify whether it refers to nominal or PPP-based GDP shares. China's PPP share in 1990 was somewhat higher (around 2–3%), though still very low.
• The speaker says 'Europe' but the geographic scope is the European Union (EU-12 in 1990). The EU-12 share was approximately 28–29%; all of Europe including non-EU countries would have been slightly higher.
• No primary official source (World Bank, IMF, Eurostat) was directly accessible to confirm the exact 1990 figures. The available sources are secondary economic data aggregators.
• The EU share figure is based on a ResearchGate graphic citing underlying data, not a direct query to an official statistical database, reducing certainty.

Sources

• SecondaryThe Global EconomyChina's share of world GDP: minimum value 1.6 percent was reached in 1990; maximum of 18.74 percent was recorded in 2021.
• SecondaryResearchGateShare of European Union in world GDP declined from 29.775% in 1980 to approximately 15% in 2019. The 1990 value, interpolated from the trend, was approximately 28–29%.
• SecondaryChina Data LiveChina's share of world GDP (PPP) grew from 2% in 1980 to 18.4% in 2024. Under nominal GDP measurement, China's share in 1990 would have been even lower than the PPP figure, consistent with the 1.6% nominal finding.