The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US region as of the second quarter of 2021 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 $11,800,300.42 million (up from $9,841,330.01 million five years ago and up from $10,485,381.31 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 9.87 times the GDP that the Northern EU does. The ratio of largest GDP to smallest GDP went down from 9.98 five years ago and up from 9.49 ten years ago.
- Of the eight regions, 8 (4 EU, 4 US) had the GDP rise in current dollars over the past five years while 0 (0 EU, 0 US) had a decline.
- Of the eight regions, 7 (3 EU, 4 US) had the GDP rise in current dollars over the past ten years while 1 (1 EU, 0 US) had a decline.
- All EU drops in GDP are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- Data is from the second quarters of 2021, 2016, and 2011.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.21 for the second quarter of 2021, 1.13 for the second quarter of 2016, and 1.44 for the second 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.
- 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 $235,208.26 million. The Western EU had the best performance with a gain of $2,194,178.67 million. Over the past ten years, the Southern EU had the worst performance with a drop of $457,191.04 million while the Western US had the best performance with a gain of $2,176,647.00 million.
In relative terms, the Southern EU had the worst performance over the past five years with a 12.63% rise in GDP while the Eastern EU had the best performance with a 40.87% rise in GDP. Over the past ten years, the Southern EU had the worst performance with a 10.13% drop in GDP while the Western US had the best performance with a 58.83% rise in GDP.
There was 1 region with a GDP of over $5,000,000 million ten years ago, 2 regions five years ago, and 4 regions now. On the flip side, there were 5 regions with a GDP of less than $4,000,000 million ten years ago, 4 regions five years ago, and 2 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 December 1, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-29650BF8_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 December 2, 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 December 1, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2021. "GDP by State." Accessed November 30, 2021. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.