"To do this, they used World Bank data for growth up until 2009, PwC's short-term projections for the years up until 2014 and their long-term growth assumptions for 2015 to 2050, which rely on assumptions about population growth, increases in human and physical capital, and the rate at which poorer countries can catch up with the more advanced technologies used in developed nations."

In all of the data lies the assumption that the UK will slip further down the list of world's largest economies. It is currently at number seven and is expected to slip down to number 10 by 2050. Though considered an emerging economy, China is set to take the number one spot in terms of capital by as early as 2025. Currently, the US is the number one economy as a G7 nation but could come in second to China.

Other growing E7 economies creeping up the scale are India, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, and Brazil in comparison with their G7 partners: Japan, Germany, Italy, the UK, Canada, and France.

What this means for the world is clear: emerging economies have enormous potential to move in fast-forward motion just as some of their counterparts have done before them, such as Japan and the US.