This dataset provides values for GDP reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

With a Gross Domestic Product of over 4.3 trillion Euros, the German economy was by far the largest in Europe in 2024. The similarly sized economies of the United Kingdom and France were the second and third largest economies in Europe during this year, followed by Italy and Spain. The smallest economy in this statistic is that of the small Balkan nation of Montenegro, which had a GDP of 7.4 billion Euros. In this year, the combined GDP of the 27 member states that compose the European Union amounted to approximately 17.95 trillion Euros. The big five Germany’s economy has consistently had the largest economy in Europe since 1980, even before the reunification of West and East Germany. The United Kingdom, by contrast, has had mixed fortunes during the same period and had a smaller economy than Italy in the late 1980s. The UK also suffered more than the other major economies during the recession of the late 2000s, meaning the French economy was the second largest on the continent for some time afterward. The Spanish economy was continually the fifth-largest in Europe in this 38-year period, and from 2004 onwards, has been worth more than one trillion Euros. The smallest GDP, the highest economic growth in Europe Despite having the smallerst GDP of Europe, Montenegro emerged as the fastest growing economy in the continent, achieving an impressive annual growth rate of 4.5 percent, surpassing Turkey's growth rate of 4 percent. Overall,this Balkan nation has shown a remarkable economic recovery since the 2010 financial crisis, with its GDP projected to grow by 28.71 percent between 2024 and 2029. Contributing to this positive trend are successful tourism seasons in recent years, along with increased private consumption and rising imports. Europe's economic stagnation Malta, Albania, Iceland, and Croatia were among the countries reporting some of the highest growth rates this year. However, Europe's overall performance reflected a general slowdown in growth compared to the trend seen in 2021, during the post-pandemic recovery. Estonia experienced the sharpest negative growth in 2023, with its economy shrinking by 2.3% compared to 2022, primarily due to the negative impact of sanctions placed on its large neighbor, Russia. Other nations, including Sweden, Germany, and Finland, also recorded slight negative growth.

In 1950, GDP per capita in Western Europe (29 countries) was just 48 percent of GDP per capita in the U.S. The post-war economic boom from 1950 to 1973 was the most prosperous period in Western Europe's history, and GDP per capita more than doubled in this period, reaching 69 percent of the U.S.' rate. Due to several economic crises in Europe in the following decades, growth rates in Western Europe remained relatively stable. Still, they did not reach the same heights as seen during the so-called Golden Age of Capitalism.

In contrast, the U.S. had been harder hit than Western Europe by the economic difficulties of the 1970s and 1980s, but the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 coincided with one of the most successful decades in U.S. history, with the economy thriving in the 1990s. For Western Europe, the fall of communism had a knock-on effect that limited growth in the early 1990s, although GDP per capita compared to the U.S. was fairly similar to 1973's rate (albeit lower) at 66 percent.

View yearly updates and historical trends for Western Europe GDP Per Capita Outlook. Source: International Monetary Fund. Track economic data with YCharts…

This dataset provides values for GDP ANNUAL GROWTH RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union, gross domestic products (GDP) decreased in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, by 2021, growth rates were positive in all four areas again. The United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union all experiencing slow economic growth in 2023 amid high inflation, with Germany even seeing an economic recession. GDP and its components GDP refers to the total market value of all goods and services that are produced within a country per year. It is composed of government spending, consumption, business investments and net exports. It is an important indicator to measure the economic strength of a country. Economists rely on a variety of factors when predicting the future performance of the GDP. Inflation rate is one of the economic indicators providing insight into the future behavior of households, which make up a significant proportion of GDP. Projections are based on the past performance of such information. Future considerations Some factors can be more easily predicted than others. For example, projections of the annual inflation rate of the United States are easy to come by. However, the intensity and impact of something like Brexit is difficult to predict. Moreover, the occurrence and impact of events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine is difficult to foresee. Hence, actual GDP growth may be higher or lower than the original estimates.

This line chart displays GDP (current US$) by date using the aggregation sum in Western Europe. The data is about countries per year.

Between 1900 and 1950, Scandinavian countries saw the largest growth in GDP per capita in Europe, more than doubling between 1913 and 1950. In comparison, growth rates were much lower in Western Europe, and lower still in East-Central Europe. From 1913 (the year before the First World War) until the end of the Second World War's recovery period in 1950, Western Europe's GDP per capita grew by just 43 percent, while East-Central Europe's figure increased by just 26 percent.

This horizontal bar chart displays GDP (current US$) by region using the aggregation sum in Western Europe. The data is filtered where the date is 2023. The data is about countries per year.

This dataset is about countries per year in Western Europe. It has 576 rows. It features 4 columns: country, GDP, and life expectancy at birth.

This bar chart displays GDP (current US$) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Western Europe. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, GDP per capita rose significantly across Europe, however, at varying rates across different regions. Scandinavia, which did not experience the same level of structural devastation during the World Wars as the other regions, saw the largest GDP per capita growth during this period. Over these five decades, Scandinavian countries transformed from traditional agricultural societies to some of the world's wealthiest and industrially advanced economies. Between 1913 and 1950, Scandinavian GDP per capita doubled, eventually overtaking Western Europe as the highest in Europe. In comparison, East-Central Europe's growth was much slower, rising by just 26 percent between 1913 and 1915.

The city of Paris in France had an estimated gross domestic product of 757.6 billion Euros in 2021, the most of any European city. Paris was followed by the spanish capital, Madrid, which had a GDP of 237.5 billion Euros, and the Irish capital, Dublin at 230 billion Euros. Milan, in the prosperous north of Italy, had a GDP of 228.4 billion Euros, 65 billion euros larger than the Italian capital Rome, and was the largest non-capital city in terms of GDP in Europe. The engine of Europe Among European countries, Germany had by far the largest economy, with a gross domestic product of over 4.18 trillion Euros. The United Kingdom or France have been Europe's second largest economy since the 1980s, depending on the year, with forecasts suggesting France will overtake the UK going into the 2020s. Germany however, has been the biggest European economy for some time, with five cities (Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt) among the 15 largest European cities by GDP. Europe's largest cities In 2023, Moscow was the largest european city, with a population of nearly 12.7 million. Paris was the largest city in western Europe, with a population of over 11 million, while London was Europe's third-largest city at 9.6 million inhabitants.

This horizontal bar chart displays GDP (current US$) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Western Europe. The data is filtered where the date is 2023. The data is about countries per year.

Hong Kong GDP: IS: Western Europe data was reported at 81,478.000 HKD mn in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 81,510.000 HKD mn for 2015. Hong Kong GDP: IS: Western Europe data is updated yearly, averaging 81,684.000 HKD mn from Dec 2009 (Median) to 2016, with 8 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 84,761.000 HKD mn in 2013 and a record low of 62,068.000 HKD mn in 2009. Hong Kong GDP: IS: Western Europe data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Census and Statistics Department. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Hong Kong – Table HK.A172: SNA 2008: GDP: Trade in Services: MSITS 2010: Current Price: by Major Service Component and Region (Annual).

Since 1980, Europe's largest economies have consistently been France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, although the former Soviet Union's economy was the largest in the 1980s, and Russia's economy has been larger than Spain's since 2010. Since Soviet dissolution, Germany has always had the largest economy in Europe, while either France or the UK has had the second largest economy depending on the year. Italy's economy was of a relatively similar size to that of the UK and France until the mid-2000s when it started to diverge, resulting in a difference of approximately 800 billion U.S dollars by 2018. Russia's economy had overtaken both Italy and Spain's in 2012, but has fallen since 2014 due to the drop in international oil prices and the economic sanctions imposed for its annexation of Crimea - economic growth is expected to be comparatively low in Russia in the coming years due to the economic fallout of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In 2025, Germany, now the world's third-largest economy, was estimated at over *** trillion U.S. dollars.

Hong Kong GDP: ES: IP: Western Europe data was reported at 730.000 HKD mn in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 679.000 HKD mn for 2013. Hong Kong GDP: ES: IP: Western Europe data is updated yearly, averaging 571.500 HKD mn from Dec 2009 (Median) to 2014, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 730.000 HKD mn in 2014 and a record low of 364.000 HKD mn in 2011. Hong Kong GDP: ES: IP: Western Europe data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Census and Statistics Department. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Hong Kong – Table HK.A172: GDP: Trade in Services: MSITS 2010: Current Price: by Major Service Component and Region (Annual).

In the first half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union's GDP per capita rose from roughly one-third of Western Europe's GDP per capita in 1900 to one-half of its rate in 1950. Although it grew gradually between the given intervals, it did drop between 1913 and 1929 due to the devastation caused by the First World War and Russian Revolution. However, this year also marked the beginning of the Great Depression, which caused a significant economic downturn across Western Europe while being relatively unfelt in the Soviet Union.

Hong Kong GDP: ES: INS: Western Europe data was reported at 840.000 HKD mn in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 668.000 HKD mn for 2013. Hong Kong GDP: ES: INS: Western Europe data is updated yearly, averaging 536.500 HKD mn from Dec 2009 (Median) to 2014, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 840.000 HKD mn in 2014 and a record low of 395.000 HKD mn in 2011. Hong Kong GDP: ES: INS: Western Europe data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Census and Statistics Department. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Hong Kong – Table HK.A172: SNA 2008: GDP: Trade in Services: MSITS 2010: Current Price: by Major Service Component and Region (Annual).

Data behind the Economist's article: Productivity has grown faster in western Europe than in America

Sources

OECD, World Bank

Suggested citation

The Economist and Solstad, Sondre (corresponding author), 2023. "All work and no play", The Economist, October 4th issue, 2023.