EU GDP Growth Rate by State, First Quarter 2021

The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) quarterly growth rate in each EU state as of the first quarter of 2021 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, Ireland, and the state with the smallest, Slovakia, is 12.88 percentage points.
• The difference between the state with the largest year-over-year growth rate, Ireland, and the state with the smallest, Greece, is 13.73 percentage points.
• The median annualized quarterly growth rate in the 28 EU states is 2.24% and the mean 1.98%.
• The median year-over-year growth rate in the 28 EU states is 0.05% and the mean 0.89%.
• Of the 28 states, 18 grew faster over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year, 0 grew at the same rate over both time periods, and 10 grew slower over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year.

Caveats

• Data is from the first quarter of 2020, the fourth quarter of 2020, and the first quarter of 2021.
• 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

Slovakia had the worst performance over the previous quarter with an annualized rate of -3.00%.  Ireland had the best performance with an annualized rate of 9.88%.

Year over year, Greece had the worst performance with an annualized rate of -4.88% while Ireland had the best performance with an annualized rate of 8.85%.

Luxembourg saw the worst change in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth slowing its rate by 6.81 percentage points.  Greece had the best change in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth raising its rate by 7.39 percentage points.

The United Kingdom (from 26th best growth rate over the same quarter last year to the 8th best growth rate over the previous quarter) rose 18 spots.  Conversely, Slovakia (from 12th to 28th) fell 16 spots.  Two states had growth rates in the top five both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Ireland (1st highest year-over-year, 1st highest quarterly) and Estonia (4th highest year-over-year, 3rd highest quarterly).  Two states had growth rates in the bottom five both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Spain (24th highest year-over-year, 24th highest quarterly) and Portugal (27th highest year-over-year, 27th highest quarterly).

Sources

Eurostat.  2021.  "GDP and Main Components."  Accessed July 21, 2021.  https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-41E5E7A5_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 July 21, 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 July 21, 2021.  https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea.