Long-Term GDP by EU and US State, Fourth Quarter 2020

The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the fourth quarter of 2020 in millions of US dollars, the change from five years ago, and the GDP ten years prior.  Germany continues to be the largest economy.

Findings

• The difference between the state with the largest GDP, Germany, and the state with the smallest, Malta, is $4,029,806.00 million (up from $3,320,179.24 million five years ago and up from $3,851,437.74 million ten years ago).  Germany and Malta had the largest and smallest GDP respectively both five and ten years ago.
• Germany has 255.76 times the GDP that Malta does.  The ratio of largest GDP to smallest GDP was down from 295.13 five years ago and down from 373.55 ten years ago.
• The median GDP in the 28 EU states is $266,346.99 million (up from $195,314.70 million five years ago and up from $258,573.46 ten years ago) and the mean $682,952.19 million (up from $584,746.13 five years ago and down from $688,856.36 ten years ago).
• The median GDP in the 50 US states is $248,528.10 million (up from $207,104.75 million five years ago and up from $173,374.60 ten years ago) and the mean $424,592.58 million (up from $362,868.13 five years ago and up from $300,495.08 ten years ago).
• The median GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $252,636.80 million (up from $203,732.40 million five years ago and up from $233,839.85 ten years ago) and the mean $517,337.05 million (up from $442,516.65 five years ago and up from $439,906.82 ten years ago).
• Of the 78 states, 77 (27 EU, 50 US) had the GDP rise in current dollars from five years ago while 1 (1 EU, 0 US) had the GDP drop in current dollars.
• Of the 78 states, 67 (19 EU, 48 US) had the GDP rise in current dollars from ten years ago while 11 (9 EU, 2 US) had the GDP drop in current dollars.
• Some EU gains in GDP are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.

Caveats

• Data is from the fourth quarters of 2020, 2015, and 2010.
• The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
• Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.19 for the fourth quarter of 2020, 1.09 for the fourth quarter of 2015, and 1.48 for the fourth quarter of 2010 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

In absolute terms, the United Kingdom had the worst performance over the past five years with a drop of $46,423.09 million.  Germany had the best performance with a gain of $714,156.68 million.  Over the past ten years, Italy had the worst performance with a drop of $389,470.52 million while California had the best performance with a gain of $1,141,057.60 million.

In relative terms, the United Kingdom had the worst performance over the past five years with a 1.59% drop in GDP while Romania had the best performance with a 53.58% rise in GDP.  Over the past ten years, Greece had the worst performance with a 39.24% drop in GDP while Ireland had the best performance with a 78.88% rise in GDP.

There were 53 states (19 EU, 34 US) with a GDP of over $100,000 million ten years ago, 54 states (18 EU, 36 US) five years ago, and 56 states (19 EU, 37 US) now.  On the flip side, there were 10 states (5 EU, 5 US) with a GDP of less than $50,000 million ten years ago, 12 states (7 EU, 5 US) five years ago, and 6 states (4 EU, 2 US) now.

Romania (from 47th largest GDP to 37th largest GDP out of 78) rose ten spots in the five year period.  Conversely, Alaska (from 67th to 72nd) fell five spots in the five year period.  Over the past ten years, Ireland (from 37th to 25th) rose 12 spots, while Greece (from 26th to 47th) fell 21 spots.

Sources

Eurostat.  2021.  "GDP and Main Components."  Accessed May 10, 2021.  https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-C88959A_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.

US Bureau of Economic Analysis.  2021.  "GDP by State."  Accessed May 7, 2021.  https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.