The geography of the world’s corporate power has shifted dramatically since the FT published its first Global 500 list in 1996. Indeed, in that year there were only 30 countries with companies large enough to be included on it.

The major risers in the ranking are predictable: China, Russia, India, South Korea and Mexico are now all in the top 20 – with the first three having made serious inroads – despite most of them not having a single company in the top 500 a decade ago.