Editing Axis powers (section)

==Economic resources==
The Axis population in 1938 was 258.9&nbsp;million, while the Allied population (excluding the Soviet Union and the United States, which later joined the Allies) was 689.7&nbsp;million.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=3}} Thus the Allied powers outnumbered the Axis powers by 2.7 to 1.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=4}} The leading Axis states had the following domestic populations: Germany 75.5&nbsp;million (including 6.8&nbsp;million from recently annexed Austria), Japan 71.9&nbsp;million (excluding its colonies), and Italy 43.4&nbsp;million (excluding its colonies). The United Kingdom (excluding its colonies) had a population of 47.5&nbsp;million and France (excluding its colonies) 42&nbsp;million.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=3}}

The wartime [[gross domestic product]] (GDP) of the Axis was $911&nbsp;billion at its highest in 1941 in [[Geary–Khamis dollar|international dollars]] by 1990 prices.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=10}} The GDP of the Allied powers was $1,798&nbsp;billion. The United States stood at $1,094&nbsp;billion, more than the Axis combined.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|pp=10, 25}}

The burden of the war upon participating countries has been measured through the percentage of [[gross national product]] (GNP) devoted to military expenditures.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=20}} Nearly one-quarter of Germany's GNP was committed to the war effort in 1939, and this rose to three-quarters of GNP in 1944, prior to the collapse of the economy.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=20}} In 1939, Japan committed 22 percent of its GNP to its war effort in China; this rose to three-quarters of GNP in 1944.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=20}} Italy did not mobilize its economy; its GNP committed to the war effort remained at prewar levels.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=20}}

Italy and Japan lacked industrial capacity; their economies were small, dependent on [[international trade]], external sources of fuel and other industrial resources.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=20}} As a result, Italian and Japanese mobilization remained low, even by 1943.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=20}}

Among the three major Axis powers, Japan had the lowest per capita income, while Germany and Italy had an income level comparable to the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Harrison|2000|p=19}}

[[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]]'s oil gave the country a disproportionate importance in the global conflict. In 1940 and 1941, Romania supplied 94% and 75% of Germany's oil imports respectively. Italy – which lacked both natural and synthetic output – was even more reliant on Romanian oil than Germany. The loss of Romania's oil – following the country's [[King Michael's Coup|defection from the Axis in August 1944]] – resulted in Hitler's first admission that the war was lost.{{sfn|Axworthy|1995|pp=17–20}}