Lisbon, July 15, 2026 (Lusa) - The economies of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) would rank as the eighth largest in the world if they were aggregated as a single entity, according to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2026.
According to the IMF’s growth forecasts for this year, which marks the 30th anniversary of the community’s creation, the combined economies of the CPLP countries are worth $3.2 trillion (€2.8 trillion), ranking eighth amongst the world’s largest economies, just below France and above Italy, in a list led by the United States and China.
Brazil, with a nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.6 trillion (€2.2 trillion), is the CPLP’s ‘economic giant’, with an economy that, on its own, exceeds the combined total of all the other countries in the group: Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste.
The disparity in the size of these economies, spread across four continents, is striking when one looks at the figures: Brazil, with a population of over 200 million and a GDP of $2.6 trillion, is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Sao Tome and Príncipe, whose small island economy is worth just over $1 billion, or around €870 million.
The importance of this group of countries, home to around 250 million people, is also reflected in the economic value of sharing the same language; a 2018 study indicates that the value of the combined economic activities of the Portuguese-speaking countries stands at around €30 billion, representing less than 10% of Portugal’s Gross Domestic Product forecast for this year by the IMF.
GDP in 2026Angola................152,354Brazil..............2,635,912Cabo Verde..............3,448Equatorial Guinea.......13,722Guinea-Bissau ...........2,985Mozambique ............23,275Portugal..............380,637Sao Tome and Príncipe.....1,161Timor-Leste.............2.17 Figures in billions of dollarsSOURCE: International Monetary Fund
MBA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa