The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US region as of the fourth quarter of 2018 in millions of dollars, the change from the previous quarter, and the GDP one year prior. The Western EU is the only EU region that has a larger GDP than any US region.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the largest GDP, the Western EU, and the region with the smallest, the Northern EU, is $10,501,317 million (down from $10,612,250 million last quarter and down from $12,439,038 million last year). The Western and Northern EU had the largest and smallest GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
- The Western EU has 10.10 times the GDP that the Northern EU does. The ratio of largest GDP to smallest GDP went down from 10.20 last quarter and up from 9.97 last year.
- Five regions (one EU, four US) saw their GDP rise in current dollars from the previous quarter while three (all from the EU) saw it drop.
- Four regions (all from the US) saw their GDP rise in current dollars from last year while four (all from the EU) saw it drop.
- All EU drops in GDP are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- Data is from the fourth quarter of 2018.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.14 for the fourth quarter of 2018, 1.16 for the third quarter of 2018, and 1.18 for the fourth quarter of 2017 according to historic rates listed at the Federal Reserve (see source link below).
- US data comes in an annualized format which the EU does not, thus EU data is annualized by multiplying the quarterly figure by four.
- US growth rates may differ from those provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis as the BEA's growth rates are based on chained dollars in conjunction with the chain index or the quality index for real GDP. The growth rates listed here are based on nominal GDP.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
- The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
- The Southern US consists of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
- The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
- The Northeastern US consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
- The Midwestern US consists of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
Details
In absolute terms, the Western EU saw the largest decrease over the previous quarter with a drop of $110,382.1 million. The Southern US had the largest growth with a gain of $71,611.0 million. Year over year, the Western EU had the largest decrease with a drop of $2,170,881 million while the Southern US had the greatest increase with a gain of $354,532.2 million.
In relative terms, the Southern EU had the largest decrease over the previous quarter with a 1.22% drop in GDP while the Southern US had the greatest increase with a 1.13% rise in GDP. Year over year, the Northern EU had the largest decrease with a 16.81% drop in GDP while the Southern US had the largest growth with a 5.84% rise in GDP.
The Western EU accounted for nearly one-third of the economic output of the EU and US at 29.96%. It, combined with the Southern US accounted for nearly half of the economic output of the two superstates at 46.47%. Adding in the Western and Northeastern US accounts for nearly three-fourths of total economic output in the two Unions at 72.27%.
No region overcame another region in the quarter. The Northeastern and Midwestern US both overcame the Southern EU over the course of the year dropping the Southern EU from fourth largest regional output to sixth. The Northeastern US went from fifth to fourth and the Midwestern US went from sixth to fifth.
Sources
Federal Reserve. 2019. "Foreign Exchange Rates." Accessed May 26, 2019. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2019. "GDP by State." Accessed May 22, 2019. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.