Gross Domestic Product-Share in Agriculture

Like employment structures, shares of a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in agriculture, industry, and services are a good indication of the level of economic development. The world's least developed countries have the highest percentages in agriculture; the world's most highly developed countries have the lowest percentages in agriculture and highest percentages in service and industry. This does not mean that those countries with lower shares of GDP in agriculture are unimportant agricultural producers; the United States, Canada, and Australia, for example, have very low percentages of GDP in agriculture but are among the world's most important agricultural producers. What a low GDP share in agriculture most often means is that a country has many other ways of making money. Conversely, a high GDP share in agriculture suggests that a country's economy is limited to agricultural production.