The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate when the GDP is priced in US dollars in each EU and US state over the past five years as of the first quarter of 2021 and the growth rate over the past ten years. Four states had negative growth over the past ten years while zero had negative growth over the past five.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest annualized five-year growth rate, Ireland, and the state with the smallest, Greece, is 12.77 percentage points.
- The difference between the state with the largest annualized ten-year growth rate, Ireland, and the state with the smallest, Greece, is 13.95 percentage points.
- The median annualized five-year growth rate in the 28 EU states is 5.79% and the mean 6.46%. The median annualized ten-year growth rate in the 28 EU states is 1.46% and the mean 2.32%.
- The median annualized five-year growth rate in the 50 US states is 3.39% and the mean 3.71%. The median annualized ten-year growth rate in the 50 US states is 3.90% and the mean 3.96%.
- The median annualized five-year growth rate in the 78 EU and US states is 4.00% and the mean 4.70%. The median annualized ten-year growth rate in the 78 EU and US states is 3.59% and the mean 3.37%.
- Of the 78 states, 46 grew faster over the past five years than they did over the past ten years (28 from the EU, 18 from the US), 1 had the same annualized growth rate over both periods (0 EU, 1 US), and 31 grew slower over the past five years than they did over the past ten years (0 EU, 31 US).
- Some EU drops and gains in GDP growth rate are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- Data is from the first quarters of 2011, 2016, and 2021.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.21 for the first quarter of 2021, 1.10 for the first quarter of 2016, and 1.37 for the first quarter of 2011 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
Greece had the worst performance over the past five years with an annualized growth rate of of 1.62%. Ireland had the best performance with an annualized gain of 14.39%.
Over the past ten years, Greece had the worst performance with an annualized growth rate of -2.89% drop in GDP while Ireland had the best performance with an annualized growth rate of 11.06%.
North Dakota had the worst change in its growth rate between its annualized ten-year growth and its annualized five-year growth slowing its rate by 2.19 percentage points. Bulgaria had the best change in its growth rate between its annualized ten-year growth and its annualized five-year growth raising its rate by 6.27 percentage points.
Cyprus went up 55 spots in the growth rank from having the 75th largest growth rate over the past ten years to the 20th largest growth rate over the past five years. Conversely, North Dakota went down 43 spots in the growth rank from having the 14th highest growth rate over the past ten years to the 57th highest growth rate over the past five years. One state had annualized growth rates in the top five both over the past ten years and over the past five years: Ireland (1st highest ten-year, 1st highest five-year). Two states had growth rates in the bottom five both over both periods: Italy (77th highest ten-year, 75th highest five-year) and Greece (78th highest ten-year, 78th highest five-year).
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "GDP and Main Components." Accessed August 26, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-B4FCD9_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 August 27, 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 August 26, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2021. "GDP by State." Accessed August 25, 2021. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.