The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) quarterly growth rate in each EU state as of the fourth quarter of 2020 and the growth rate from one year prior. Six states' economies contracted over the previous quarter.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest annualized quarterly growth rate, Romania, and the state with the smallest, Austria, is 9.69 percentage points.
- The difference between the state with the largest year-over-year growth rate, Luxembourg, and the state with the smallest, Greece, is 13.05 percentage points.
- The median annualized quarterly growth rate in the 28 EU states is 0.96% and the mean 1.14%.
- The median year-over-year growth rate in the 28 EU states is -3.38% and the mean -2.97%.
- Of the 28 states, 25 grew faster over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year, zero grew at the same rate over both time periods, and three grew slower over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year.
Caveats
- Data is from the fourth quarter of 2019, the third quarter of 2020, and the fourth 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.
Details
Austria had the worst performance over the previous quarter with an annualized rate of -2.53%. Romania had the best performance with an annualized rate of 7.16%.
Year over year, Greece had the worst performance with an annualized rate of -8.63% while Luxembourg had the best performance with an annualized rate of 4.42%.
Ireland saw the worst change in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth slowing its rate by 2.96 percentage points. Croatia had the best change in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth raising its rate by 11.70 percentage points.
Croatia (from 26th best growth rate over the same quarter last year to the 2nd best growth rate over the previous quarter) rose 24 spots. Conversely, Ireland (from 3rd to 25th) fell 22 spots. Four states had growth rates in the top five both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Romania (4th highest year-over-year, 1st highest quarterly), Bulgaria (5th highest year-over-year, 3rd highest quarterly), Luxembourg (1st highest year-over-year, 4th highest quarterly), and Sweden (2nd highest growth year-over year, 5th highest growth over the previous quarter). Four states had growth rates in the bottom ten (zero in the bottom five) both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Spain (27th highest year-over-year, 20th highest quarterly), Slovenia (22nd highest year-over-year, 23rd highest quarterly), Italy (21st highest year-over-year, 26th highest quarterly), and Austria (20th highest year-over-year, 28th highest quarterly).
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.
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.