The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) quarterly growth rate in each EU state as of the fourth quarter of 2018 and the growth rate from one year prior. Sweden is the only state whose economy has shrunk from the previous year, but is also the state with the largest growth from the previous quarter.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest annualized quarterly growth rate, Sweden, and the state with the smallest, Greece, is 12.0 percentage points.
- The difference between the state with the largest year-over-year growth rate, Latvia, and the state with the smallest, Sweden, is 10.9 percentage points.
- The median annualized quarterly growth rate in the 28 EU states is 3.88% and the mean 4.49%.
- The median year-over-year growth rate in the 28 EU states is 4.53% and the mean 4.70%.
- Eleven states' economies grew faster over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year. One state had the same annualized growth rate over the previous quarter as it did with the same quarter last year. The remaining 16 states saw their economies grow slower over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year.
Caveats
- Data is from the fourth quarter of 2018.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current euros.
- The data is annualized by multiplying the quarterly figure by four.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
Greece had the largest decline over the previous quarter with an annualized drop of 0.68%. Sweden had the largest growth with an annualized gain of 11.32%.
Year over year, Sweden had the largest decline with a 0.51% drop in GDP while Latvia had the largest growth with a 10.04% rise in GDP.
Malta saw the largest decrease in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth slowing its rate by 6.45 percentage points. Sweden had the largest increase in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth ramping up its rate by 11.83 percentage points.
Sweden went from having the 28th largest growth rate over the same quarter last year to the largest growth rate over the previous quarter. Conversely, Bulgaria went from having the 6th highest growth rate over the same quarter last year to the 27th highest growth rate over the previous quarter. Only three states had growth rates in the top five both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Lithuania (5th highest growth year-over year, 2nd highest growth over the previous quarter), Latvia (highest year-over-year, 3rd highest quarterly), and Estonia (4th highest year-over-year, 5th highest quarterly). Three states had growth rates in the bottom five both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Germany (24th highest both year-over-year and quarterly), Italy (27th highest year-over-year, 26th highest quarterly), and Greece (26th highest year-over-year, 28th highest quarterly).