The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) quarterly growth rate in each EU region as of the fourth quarter of 2018 and the growth rate from one year prior. Every single region's economy grew both over the past quarter and the past year.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the largest annualized quarterly growth rate, the Northern EU, and the region with the smallest, the Southern EU, is 5.16 percentage points.
- The difference between the region with the largest year-over-year growth rate, the Eastern EU, and the region with the smallest, the Northern EU, is 4.16 percentage points.
- The Eastern EU is the only region whose growth rate was slower over the previous quarter than it was 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.
- The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
Details
The Southern EU had the smallest increase over the previous quarter with an annualized growth rate of 2.04%. The Northern EU had the largest growth with an annualized gain of 7.20%.
Year over year, the Northern EU had the smallest growth with a 1.61% rise in GDP while the Eastern EU had the largest growth with a 5.77% rise in GDP.
The Eastern EU saw the largest decrease in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth slowing its rate by 0.73 percentage points. The Northern EU had the largest increase in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth raising its rate by 5.59 percentage points.
No region overcame another region in the quarter. The Northern EU however, went from having the slowest growth rate over the same quarter last year to the fastest growth rate over the previous quarter. The Southern EU had the smallest range in annualized quarterly growth rates with a low of -0.68% in Greece to a high of 4.24% in Cyprus. Conversely, the Eastern EU had the greatest range in annualized quarterly growth rates with a low of -0.32% in Bulgaria to a high of 10.64% in Lithuania. Year-over-year, the Western EU had the smallest range in growth rates with a low of 2.31% in France to a high of 5.38 in Luxembourg. The Southern EU on the other hand, had the greatest range of rates on a year-over-year basis with a low of 0.77% in Italy to a high of 9.29% in Malta.