China overtakes Japan as world's second largest economy

China has overtaken Japan as world's second largest economy and may catch up with the US in the next 10 years, economists predict. Europe's leading economies, Germany and France, come next, but the gap is widening.

Japan has been toppled from its 42-year long ranking as the world's number two, as a drop in exports and consumer demand put the breaks on its economy in 2010.

Meanwhile, China's manufacturing boom has seen its economy evaluated at $5.8 trillion (€4.2 trillion) in 2010...