The stock market is in disarray, home sales are declining once again, and unsettling economic data coming in from countries around the world has experts fearing the worst. According to the observations of a few economists, we could be headed for a global recession. While things are looking bleak across the board, some nations are actually experiencing considerable growth in significant revenue driving areas.

According to projections made by online marketing research firm eMarketer, China is on pace to become the number two advertising market in the world. The company estimates that the booming Asian nation will increase its spending by 14% or $38.3 billion in 2011. More money is being spent on advertising in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, and China is playing a huge role in that increase. As one of the fastest growing economies and the world’s most populous nation, its ascension in the ad market should come as no surprise.

Putting Japan in Its Rearview

China is quickly moving up in the global rankings, and its growth appears to be coming at the expense of longtime Asian rival Japan. Last year, Japan was sitting firmly at number two in the global ad market. In fact, eMarketer reports that ad spending in Japan hit $34 billion in 2010. Unfortunately, the crisis that ensued from the earthquake and tsunami disaster coupled with a struggling economy stunted the country’s growth in that department. eMarketer estimates that Japan’s ad spending in 2011 will decrease to 32.7 billion, a 3.7% dip, while spending in China will increase to $38.3 billion, a 14% jump. To top it all off, it surpassed Japan in 2010 as the world’s second largest economy.

What’s so impressive about China’s growth in advertising is that it is essentially a market still in development mode compared to the U.S., Japan and other countries where the ad game is more established. With that said, its purchasing levels are far behind when based on an individual scale. eMarketer projects that money spent on advertising in China will climb to $28.68 per person in 2011. This is in comparison to $258.88 per person in Japan and a whopping $502.49 in the United States. And even though China’s internet spending per person is expected to increase by nearly twice as much by 2015, it is still estimated to stay well below the global average.

Global Advertising on the Rise

The global advertising market is on a fast rise. eMarketer is predicting that money spent on ads worldwide will reach nearly $500 billion this year, with $80.2 billion of it being spent on internet placements. Apparently this is only the beginning as the global ad market is expected to account for 22% of the world’s total media spending by 2015. For now, the United States is still leading the way as the top spender, on pace to spend $157.4 billion in ad money in 2011 alone.