In a new chapter of our collaboration with the Fortune Magazine I'm proud to introduce today the 2021 Global 500. In this year's Global 500 app we are aiming to throw some light over the impact of COVID-19 on the list.
We analyzed how two of the list’s main indicators evolved over the years. In 2021 Revenue saw a 5% decline while Profits plummeted some 20% to $1.65 trillion. It was the biggest decline since a 48% plunge in 2009.
![ArturoMuoz_1-1629196898774.jpeg ArturoMuoz_1-1629196898774.jpeg](https://community.qlik.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/60181i417FE3BDCDA3975B/image-size/medium?v=v2&px=400)
But not all the regions performed in the same way, to visualize the impact of the economic crisis that followed the COVID-19 pandemic we plotted the contribution of different regions to the Global 500 list using two measures, number of companies and revenue.
![ArturoMuoz_2-1629196898975.jpeg ArturoMuoz_2-1629196898975.jpeg](https://community.qlik.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/60180i93C0DD9C9E34F42A/image-size/medium?v=v2&px=400)
The chart above shows how each region have performed since the first Global 500 list was published back in 1990. When looking at each evolution line, the meteoric rise of China over the years it's very impressive while Europe’s dominant position on the list on decline.
In 2021 the European countries were heavily impacted by the economic shutdown. Europe's representation in the list dropped in number of companies and their reported revenues decreased as well. Other regions like China continued to thrive despite of the current world situation. The US position remained almost unchanged when compared with the previous year 2020.
To focus even more in the 2020-2021 change readers can check the next section, where a world map holds indicators that helps us to visualize the change. The image below shows 2020-2021 change measured in number of companies in the Global 500 list. Again, Europe dominate the losses while both US and specially China increase the number of companies with presence in the list.
![ArturoMuoz_3-1629196899103.png ArturoMuoz_3-1629196899103.png](https://community.qlik.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/60182iDD98952C1BF5A498/image-size/medium?v=v2&px=400)
We putted an end to the app analyzing how each sector behaved last year. The chart below shows the size of the entire economy in 2020 and in 2021 (Profits). The entire Global 500 list profits dropped by 20% year over year, but not every sector was impacted equally. Technology, Telecommunications and Retailing increased their profits while the Energy sector took a massive hit on profits losing 1.7 trillion USD disappearing from the top sectors measured by profits.
![ArturoMuoz_4-1629196899302.jpeg ArturoMuoz_4-1629196899302.jpeg](https://community.qlik.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/60183i53E401369C2719A5/image-size/medium?v=v2&px=400)
We really hope you enjoy the experience, don’t forget to check the live app here: https://qlik.fortune.com/global500
Enjoy it! 😊