The $127 Trillion Global Stock Market In One Giant Chart

From Wall Street to Shanghai, stock markets form the backbone of modern economies. But where exactly is the bulk of the global stock market concentrated?

This Markets in a Minute graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Jenna Ross in partnership with Terzo, breaks down the staggering $127 trillion global equity value.

The Global Stock Market: A Geographic View

Using data from SIFMA, let’s take a look at how global stock market value is distributed across key economies and regions. The data reflects listed domestic companies and excludes private equity. 

The U.S. stock market is by far the largest, making up nearly half of equity value. Its share of the global market went up 7% from 2023 to 2024, the biggest jump of any country or region. 

Historically, the U.S. share of the global stock market has fluctuated. In the early 1970s it climbed to around 70%, dipping in the 1980s partly due to the Japanese asset price bubble. After that, America’s proportion climbed again until the 2009 global financial crisis caused it to bottom out. Over the last 15 years, the U.S. equity share has grown from 30% to 49%.

Other Key Equity Markets

China is the second-largest stock market, though it is over five times smaller than the U.S. market. The country’s equity share is smaller than its proportion of the world economy in GDP terms. Foreign ownership restrictions and state-owned enterprises reduce the number of companies that are freely traded on public markets.

Following closely behind China, the EU has a collective share of nearly 9%. However, while China’s share remained stable, the EU saw a 2% decline in its global share from 2023 to 2024. The region faced political turmoil, low economic growth projections, and equity outflows.

Armed with this information on the stock market, investors can diversify and set geographic allocations in their portfolio.