The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US region as of the fourth quarter of 2020 in US dollars, the change from the previous quarter, and the per capita GDP one year prior. Every single region's economy grew over the past quarter.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the largest per capita GDP, the Western US, and the region with the smallest, the Eastern EU, is $61,659.84 (up from $61,051.63 last quarter and down from $63,058.50 last year). The Western US had the largest per capita GDP last quarter and the Northeastern US had the largest per capita GDP last year. The Eastern EU had the smallest per capita GDP last quarter and the smallest per capita GDP last year.
- The Western US has 4.66 times the per capita GDP that the Eastern EU does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP went down from 4.74 last quarter and down from 4.90 last year.
- Of the eight regions, eight (4 EU, 4 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from the previous quarter while zero (0 EU, 0 US) saw a contraction.
- Of the eight regions, four (4 EU, 0 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from last year while four (0 EU, 4 US) saw a contraction.
- Some EU gains in per capita GDP are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the fourth quarter of 2019, the third quarter of 2020, and the fourth quarter of 2020.
- US census data is from 2010, EU census data is from 2011.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.11 for the fourth quarter of 2019, 1.17 for the third quarter of 2020, and 1.19 for the fourth 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.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- The Midwestern US consists of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
- The Northeastern US consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
- The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
- 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 EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
- The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
Details
In absolute terms, the Southern EU had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a gain of $409.76. The Northern EU had the best performance with a gain of $2,006.37. Year over year, the Northeastern US had the worst performance with a drop of $1,671.88 while the Northern EU had the best performance with a gain of $4,672.27.
In relative terms, the Northeastern US had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a 1.32% gain in per capita GDP while the Northern EU had the best performance with a 3.40% gain in per capita GDP. Year over year, the Northeastern US had the worst performance with a 2.11% drop in per capita GDP while the Northern EU had the best performance with a 8.28% gain in per capita GDP.
The Northern EU has the smallest range in per capita GDP with a low of $52,894.83 in Finland to a high of $67,168.60 in Denmark. The Western EU has the greatest range with a low of $43,077.68 in France to a high of $156,749.67 in Luxembourg.
The Western US has a per capita GDP that is higher than all Southern US and Eastern, Northern, and Southern EU states and is bested by ten states in total. The Eastern EU has a per capita GDP that is lower than all states in all other regions and only bests five states from the Eastern EU.
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "GDP and Main Components." Accessed March 31, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-2BC5CE0A_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-406779NA_ITEM,B1GQ;DS-406779S_ADJ,SCA;&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.
Eurostat. 2017. "Population on 1 January by Age Groups and Sex - Functional Urban Areas." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.
Federal Reserve. 2021. "Foreign Exchange Rates." Accessed March 31, 2021. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
Office for National Statistics. 2021. "Gross Domestic Product at market prices: Current price: Seasonally adjusted £m - Office for National Statistics." Accessed March 31, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2021. "GDP by State." Accessed March 30, 2021. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.
United States Census Bureau. September 2012. "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.