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.

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.

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.

The fastest growing economy in Europe in 2024 was Malta. The small Mediterranean country's gross domestic product grew at five percent in 2024, beating out Montenegro which had a growth rate of almost four percent and the Russian Federation which had a rate of 3.6 percent in the same year. Estonia was the country with the largest negative growth in 2024, as the Baltic country's economy shrank by 0.88 percent compared with 2023, largely as a result of the country's exposure to the economic effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent economic sanctions placed on Russia. Germany, Europe's largest economy, experience economic stagnation with a growth of 0.1 percent. Overall, the EU (which contains 27 European countries) registered a growth rate of one percent and the Eurozone (which contains 20) grew by 0.8 percent.

The European Union is comprised of 27 member states who share the European Single Market, a common trade area which ensures the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people. As of 2024, the largest economies in the EU were Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, with these countries making up the vast majority of the EU's almost 17 trillion Euro GDP. The relatively small island member states of Cyprus and Malta come in at the bottom of the list, with GDPs of around 23 and 33 billion Euros respectively.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in European Union was worth 19423.32 billion US dollars in 2024, according to official data from the World Bank. The GDP value of European Union represents 18.29 percent of the world economy. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - European Union GDP - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

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

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.

The average for 2024 based on 42 countries was 40186.68 U.S. dollars. The highest value was in Luxembourg: 137516.59 U.S. dollars and the lowest value was in Ukraine: 5389.47 U.S. dollars. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The economy of the European Union is set to grow by *** percent in 2026, according to forecasts by the European Commission. This marks a significant slowdown compared to previous years, when the EU member states grew quickly in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. ***** is the country which is forecasted to grow the most in 2026, with an annual growth rate of **** percent. Many of Europe's largest economies, on the other hand, are set to experiencing slow growth or stagnation, with Germany, France, and Italy growing below *** percent.

Throughout the Second World War, the United States consistently had the largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world. Additionally, U.S. GDP grew significantly throughout the war, whereas the economies of Europe and Japan saw relatively little growth, and were often in decline. The impact of key events in the war is also reflected in the trends shown here - the economic declines of France and the Soviet Union coincide with the years of German invasion, while the economies of the three Axis countries experienced their largest declines in the final year of the war.

In 2025, the United States had the largest economy in the world, with a gross domestic product of over 30 trillion U.S. dollars. China had the second largest economy, at around 19.23 trillion U.S. dollars. Recent adjustments in the list have seen Germany's economy overtake Japan's to become the third-largest in the world in 2023, while Brazil's economy moved ahead of Russia's in 2024. Global gross domestic product Global gross domestic product amounts to almost 110 trillion U.S. dollars, with the United States making up more than one-quarter of this figure alone. The 12 largest economies in the world include all Group of Seven (G7) economies, as well as the four largest BRICS economies. The U.S. has consistently had the world's largest economy since the interwar period, and while previous reports estimated it would be overtaken by China in the 2020s, more recent projections estimate the U.S. economy will remain the largest by a considerable margin going into the 2030s.The gross domestic product of a country is calculated by taking spending and trade into account, to show how much the country can produce in a certain amount of time, usually per year. It represents the value of all goods and services produced during that year. Those countries considered to have emerging or developing economies account for almost 60 percent of global gross domestic product, while advanced economies make up over 40 percent.

The average for 2023 based on 188 countries was 0.53 percent. The highest value was in the USA: 26.3 percent and the lowest value was in Andorra: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 1980 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Context

The European Union is a unique economic and political union between twenty-eight countries that together cover much of the continent. It was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to foster economic cooperation and thus avoid conflict. The result was the European Economic Community (EEC), established in 1958, with Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as its members. What began as an economic union has evolved into an organization spanning policy areas, from climate, environment and health to external relations and security, justice and migration. The 1993 name change from the European Economic Community (EEC) to the European Union (EU) reflected this.

The European Union has delivered more than half a century of peace, stability and prosperity, helped raise living standards and launched a single European currency: the Euro. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. The single market is the EU's main economic engine, enabling most goods, services, money and people to move freely.

Content

The European Union covers over 4 million square kilometers and has 508 million inhabitants — the world’s third largest population after China and India. This dataset includes information on each EU member state, candidate state, or European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) signatory state.

Acknowledgements

The membership, population, and economic data was published by the European Commission's Eurostat. Gross domestic product and GDP per capita in US dollars was provided by the World Bank.

Inspiration

How has the European Union grown in the past fifty years? What is the largest country by population or surface area? Which country has the largest economy by gross domestic product? How many different languages are spoken across all the member states?

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

In 2024 the gross domestic product of the European Union amounted to approximately 17.9 trillion euros. GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country within a year. It is an important indicator of the economic strength of a country. The financial crisis and its aftermath The European Union is a union made up of 27 states located within and around Europe, including several of the world’s largest economies. Since its inception in 1993, the European Union has displayed the benefits of uniting several countries together, however have also showed possible consequences. The majority of European countries felt the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and afterwards the Eurozone crisis, which has had a severe and continuous effect on the general European economy. Additionally, due to the close association between all the countries, several banks around different European countries were forced to shut down. A generally lower standard of life in the EU, particularly around 2009 during the prime of both economical disasters, led to doubt and uncertainty about the future of many European families and consumers. However, as the economic situation all around the world slowly improved, so did the outlook on the future for most consumers. Struggles around Europe resulted in a larger need to stimulate the economy, which was only possible by borrowing and spending more money. As a result, national debt soared. It was also necessary for more economically successful countries to help finance countries that were deep in the crisis, such as Greece.

Graph and download economic data for Composite Leading Indicators: Reference Series (GDP) Normalized for Major Four European Countries (G4ELORSGPNOSTSAM) from Feb 1960 to Aug 2023 about leading indicator and GDP.

Key information about European Union Market Capitalization: % of GDP

• European Union Market Capitalization accounted for 54.0 % of its Nominal GDP in Dec 2018, compared with a percentage of 76.5 % in the previous year
• EU Market Capitalization: % Nominal GDP is updated yearly, available from Dec 1975 to Dec 2018
• The data reached an all-time high of 80.1 % in Dec 2007 and a record low of 7.2 % in Dec 1982

The World Bank provides annual Market Capitalization as % of Nominal GDP. Market Capitalization includes domestic companies listed at the end of the year and excludes investment companies, mutual funds and other collective investment vehicles

Since 2021, the large economies of Western Europe have been experiencing a surge in inflation, with inflation reaching as high as 11.84 percent in Italy during October 2022. During 2023 the rate of inflation in all these economies has fallen significantly, reaching as low as 0.67 percent in Italy and 3.17 percent in Germany. This inflationary episode is understood by economists to have been caused by several factors, notably the supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, pent-up consumer demand which was released after lockdowns ended, as well as policies of monetary and fiscal stimulus during the pandemic aimed at boosting economic activity.

Graph and download economic data for Composite Leading Indicators: Reference Series (GDP) Trend for Major Four European Countries (G4ELORSGPTDSTSAM) from Feb 1960 to Aug 2023 about leading indicator and GDP.