The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU region as of the fourth quarter of 2018 in millions of euros, the change from five years ago, and the GDP ten years prior. Every single region's economy grew both over the past five and ten years.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the largest GDP, the Western EU, and the region with the smallest, the Northern EU, is €9,215,780.80 million (up from €7,850,460.40 million last quarter and up from €7,099,765.60 million last year). The Western and Northern EU had the largest and smallest GDP respectively both five and ten years ago.
- The Western EU has 10.11 times the GDP that the Northern EU does. The ratio of largest GDP to smallest GDP was up from 9.73 five years ago and down from 10.37 ten years ago.
- All four regions saw their GDP rise in current euros over the past five years.
- All four regions saw their GDP rise in current euros over the past ten years.
Caveats
- Data is from the fourth quarter of 2018.
- 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.
- The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
Details
In absolute terms, the Northern EU saw the smallest increase over the past five years with a growth of €112,982.00 million. The Western EU had the largest growth with a gain of €1,478,302.40 million. Over the past ten years, the Southern EU had the smallest increase with a gain of €245,139.20 million while the Western EU had the greatest increase with a gain of €2,370,491.60 million.
In relative terms, the Northern EU had the smallest increase over the past five years with a 12.57% rise in GDP while the Eastern EU had the greatest increase with a 29.58% rise in GDP. Over the past ten years, the Southern EU had the smallest growth with a 7.76% rise in GDP while the Eastern EU had the largest growth with a 38.02% rise in GDP.
There were zero regions with a GDP of over €8,000,000 million ten years ago, one region five years ago, and one region now. On the flip side, there was one region with a GDP of less than €1,000,000 million ten years ago, one region five years ago, and zero regions now.
The Northern EU is approaching the GDP of the Eastern EU ten years ago. The Western EU's GDP grew by a larger amount over the past five years than the entire GDP of each of the Eastern and Northern EU. It accomplished the same feat over the past ten years as well.