FACTBOX: How much is $700 billion?

(Reuters) - Shockwaves from the global credit crisis spread on Thursday, threatening industry and jobs worldwide and putting pressure on Congress to pass a $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial sector.

But how much is $700 billion -- what can it buy? Compared to the debt of the United States, which the U.S. Treasury has asked to increase to $11.315 trillion to fund the plan, it doesn't seem much.

Here are a few of the things that can be done with $700 billion:

-- The United States has spent more than $800 billion on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

-- Just 12 Bill Gateses could foot the bail-out bill. The Microsoft founder tops Forbes' U.S. rich list with a personal fortune estimated at $57 billion.

-- Collectively, the 400 richest Americans have a net worth of $1.57 trillion, or roughly twice the value of the bail-out.

-- $700 billion is roughly equal to the GDP of Netherlands, or five times that of Pakistan.

-- It is only $100 billion short of the combined GDP of all of Africa.

-- It is only $78 billion more than the 2007 U.S. defense budget.

-- It would buy around 130 of the latest, biggest aircraft carriers, which cost about $5.3 billion each.

-- The plan could be funded with the market capitalizations of the world's two largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp and PetroChina, which stood at $403 billion and $325 billion respectively at Thursday's close of trading. There would even be $28 billion in change.

Sources Reuters/Economist/Military Balance

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit, and Jijo Jacob)