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

The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US region as of the fourth quarter of 2020 in millions of US dollars, the change from five years ago, and the GDP ten years prior.  The Southern EU is the only region to witness a decline in GDP over the ten year period.

Findings

• The difference between the region with the largest GDP, the Western EU, and the region with the smallest, the Northern EU, is $10,983,467.71 million (up from $9,576,719.51 million five years ago and up from $10,667,998.06 million ten years ago).  The Western and Northern EU had the largest and smallest GDP respectively both five and ten years ago.
• The Western EU has 9.81 times the GDP that the Northern EU does.  The ratio of largest GDP to smallest GDP went down from 10.21 five years ago and up from 9.59 ten years ago.
• Of the eight regions, eight (4 EU, 4 US) had the GDP rise in current dollars over the past five years while zero (0 EU, 0 US) had a decline.
• Of the eight regions, seven (3 EU, 4 US) had the GDP rise in current dollars over the past ten years while one (1 EU, 0 US) had a decline.
• All EU drops 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.
• 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 Northern EU had the worst performance over the past five years with a gain of $206,150.82 million.  The Western EU had the best performance with a gain of $1,612,899.02 million.  Over the past ten years, the Southern EU had the worst performance with a drop of $748,891.47 million while the Western US had the best performance with a gain of $1,983,566.70 million.

In relative terms, the Midwestern US had the worst performance over the past five years with a 12.42% rise in GDP while the Eastern EU had the best performance with a 36.96% rise in GDP.  Over the past ten years, the Southern EU had the worst performance with a 16.16% drop in GDP while the Western US had the best performance with a 54.13% rise in GDP.

There was one region with a GDP of over $5,000,000 million ten years ago, two regions five years ago, and three regions now.  On the flip side, there were five regions with a GDP of less than $4,000,000 million ten years ago, four regions five years ago, and three regions now.

No region overtook another over the past five years.  Over the past ten years the Southern EU was surpassed by the Western, Northeastern, and Midwestern US.

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.