The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the fourth quarter of 2019 in dollars, the change from five years ago, and the GDP ten years prior. Currency rate fluctuations have not been kind to EU states over the past five years as most US states' per capita GDP zoomed past the per capita GDP of most EU states.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest per capita GDP, Luxembourg, and the state with the smallest, Bulgaria, is $130,585.07 (up from $116,973.88 five years ago and up from $121,970.91 ten years ago). Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both five and ten years ago.
- Luxembourg has 15.05 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was down from 16.65 five years ago and down from 19.12 ten years ago.
- The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $29,627.90 (up from $26,228.21 five years ago and down from $35,778.28 ten years ago) and the mean $37,622.73 (up from $33,905.21 five years ago and up from $36,632.14 ten years ago).
- The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $63,724.57 (up from $52,697.88 five years ago and up from $48,115.94 ten years ago) and the mean $65,385.74 (up from $55,302.90 five years ago and up from $50,305.77 ten years ago).
- The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $57,323.00 (up from $50,445.23 five years ago and up from $46,673.97 ten years ago) and the mean $55,419.53 (up from $47,621.68 five years ago and up from $45,397.29 ten years ago).
- Seventy-two states (23 EU, 49 US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars over the past five years while six (5 EU, 1 US) saw their per capita GDP drop.
- Sixty-three states (15 EU, 48 US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars over the past ten years while 15 (13 EU, 2 US) saw it drop.
- All EU drops in per capita GDP, save for Cyprus's and Greece's ten-year drops are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the fourth quarter of 2019, 2014, and 2009.
- US census data is from 2000 and 2010, EU census data is from 2001 and 2011.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.11 for the fourth quarter of 2019, 1.25 for the fourth quarter of 2014, and 1.48 for the fourth quarter of 2009 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
In absolute terms, North Dakota saw the largest decrease over the past five years with a drop of $3,711.02. Ireland had the largest growth with a gain of $32,306.55. Over the past ten years, Greece had the largest decrease with a drop of $14,241.42 while North Dakota had the greatest increase with a gain of $34,472.09.
In relative terms, Greece had the largest decrease over the past five years with a 7.34% drop in per capita GDP while Ireland had the greatest increase with a 60.02% rise in per capita GDP. Over the past ten years, Greece had the largest contraction with a 43.42% drop in per capita GDP while North Dakota had the largest growth with a 67.77% rise in per capita GDP.
There was one state (1 EU, 0 US) with a per capita GDP of over $80,000 ten years ago, 2 states (1 EU, 1 US) five years ago, and 9 states (2 EU, 7 US) now. On the flip side, there were 47 states (20 EU, 27 US) with a GDP of less than $50,000 ten years ago, 38 states (22 EU, 16 US) five years ago, and 26 states (22 EU, 4 US) now.
Ireland (from 26th to 5th highest per capita GDP) moved up the most spots in rank surpassing 21 states. Conversely, Sweden (from 21st to 41st) fell the most spots in rank as it was bested by 20 states. Over the past ten years, North Dakota (from 29th to 7th) rose the most in rank surpassing 22 states, while the Netherlands (from 16th to 45th) and Finland (from 24th to 53rd) dropped the most spots as they were bested by 29 states each.
Ireland was the only EU state to surpass any US states, 19 in total, over the past five years. However, nine EU states were surpassed by 33 states in the same time period. Over the past ten years, Ireland was the only EU state to surpass US states (four) while 14 EU states were surpassed by 46 states. This disparity is partially due to the rise of the dollar against the euro both over the course of the past five years and the past ten years.
Sources
Eurostat. 2017. "Population change - Demographic balance and crude rates at national level." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-054722_QID_690C8C0A_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;INDIC_DE,L,Z,0;INDICATORS,C,Z,1;&zSelection=DS-054722INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-054722INDIC_DE,JAN;&rankName1=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDIC-DE_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName4=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. 2020. "Foreign Exchange Rates." Accessed May 29, 2020. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2020. "GDP by State." Accessed May 27, 2020. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.
United States Census Bureau. September 2012. "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.