The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) quarterly growth rate when the GDP is priced in US dollars in each EU and US state as of the second quarter of 2020 and the growth rate from one year prior. Every single state's economy contracted both over the previous quarter and the same quarter last year.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest annualized quarterly growth rate, Finland, and the state with the smallest, Croatia, is 13.61 percentage points.
- The difference between the state with the largest year-over-year growth rate, Ireland, and the state with the smallest, Spain, is 18.79 percentage points.
- The median annualized quarterly growth rate in the 28 EU states is -10.14% and the mean -10.60%. The median year-over-year growth rate in the 28 EU states is -12.39% and the mean -12.50%.
- The median annualized quarterly growth rate in the 50 US states is -9.76% and the mean -9.80%. The median year-over-year growth rate in the 50 US states is -8.34% and the mean -9.05%.
- The median annualized quarterly growth rate in the 78 EU and US states is -9.76% and the mean -10.09%. The median year-over-year growth rate in the 78 EU and US states is -9.29% and the mean -10.29%.
- Thirty-three states' economies grew faster over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year (23 from the EU, 10 from the US). Zero states saw the same growth over both time periods. The remaining 45 states saw their economies grow slower over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year (5 EU, 40 US).
- No EU drops in GDP growth rate are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- Data is from the second quarter of 2019, the first quarter of 2020, and the second quarter of 2020.
- The data is seasonally and calendar adjusted in current dollars except for Slovakia which is only seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.12 for the second quarter of 2019, 1.10 for the first quarter of 2020, and 1.10 for the second quarter of 2020 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.
Details
Croatia had the worst performance over the previous quarter with an annualized rate of -18.18%. Finland had the best performance with an annualized rate of -4.57%.
Year over year, Spain had the worst performance with an annualized rate of -22.16% while Ireland had the best performance with an annualized rate of -3.37%.
Ireland saw the worst change in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth slowing its rate by 3.30 percentage points. Italy had the best change in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth ramping up its rate by 5.63 percentage points.
Slovakia (from 57th best growth rate over the same quarter last year to the 19th best growth rate over the previous quarter) surpassed 38 states. Conversely, Idaho (from 12th to 42nd) was bested by 30 states. Two states had growth rates in the top five both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Luxembourg (5th highest year-over-year, 2nd highest quarterly) and Utah (5th highest year-over-year, 2nd highest quarterly). Three states had growth rates in the bottom five both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Greece (76th highest year-over-year, 75th highest quarterly), Spain (78th highest year-over-year, 77th highest quarterly), and Croatia (77th highest year-over-year, 78th highest quarterly).
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "GDP and Main Components." Accessed October 15, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_75E42079_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;UNIT,L,Z,0;S_ADJ,L,Z,1;NA_ITEM,L,Z,2;INDICATORS,C,Z,3;&zSelection=DS-406779UNIT,CP_MEUR;DS-406779INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-406779S_ADJ,SCA;DS-406779NA_ITEM,B1GQ;&rankName1=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=NA-ITEM_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=S-ADJ_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName6=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.
Federal Reserve. 2020. "Foreign Exchange Rates." Accessed October 16, 2020. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2020. "GDP by State." Accessed October 14, 2020. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.