The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) quarterly growth rate in each EU region as of the first quarter of 2020 and the growth rate from one year prior. Every single region's economy contracted over the past quarter.
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 18.12 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 Southern EU, is 6.60 percentage points.
- Zero regions saw their economies grow faster over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year. Four regions saw their economy grow slower over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year.
Caveats
- Data is from the first quarter of 2019, the fourth quarter of 2019, and the first quarter of 2020.
- 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 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.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
- The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
Details
The Southern EU had the worst performance over the previous quarter with an annualized gain of -19.20%. The Northern EU had the best performance with an annualized gain of -1.08%.
Year over year, the Southern EU had the worst performance with a -3.45% rise in GDP while the Eastern EU had the best performance with a 3.15% rise in GDP.
The Southern EU saw the worst change in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth slowing its rate by 15.75 percentage points. The Northern EU had the best change in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth slowing its rate by 1.77 percentage points.
The Northern EU had the smallest range in annualized quarterly growth rates with a low of -3.68% in Finland to a high of 1.16% in Sweden. Conversely, the Western EU had the greatest range in annualized quarterly growth rates with a low of -17.44% in France to a high of 6.00% in Ireland. Year-over-year, the Northern EU had the smallest range in growth rates with a low of -0.04% in Sweden to a high of 1.67 in Denmark. The Western EU on the other hand, had the greatest range of rates on a year-over-year basis with a low of -3.07% in France to a high of 6.10% in Ireland.