Comparing United States and European Union by Economy

Source World Bank : Nominal, PPP, Nominal per capita, PPP per capita
International Monetary Fund: EU, US
Date20 Nov 2024

The United States and the European Union are the two largest economies globally in nominal terms. As of 2024, both together share 44.13% and 29.4% of the entire global GDP in nominal and PPP terms, respectively.

As per projections by the IMF for 2024, with $29,168 billion, the United States is leading by $9,765 billion, or 1.5 times of the EU ($19,403 billion) on an exchange rate basis. On a purchasing power parity basis, the margin is less as the United States is ahead by Int. $1,124 or 1.04 times of the EU (Int. $28,044 billion). According to estimates by the World Bank from 1960 to 2023, the US has had a higher GDP for 51 years, and the European Union has had a higher GDP for 13 years. 2011 was the latest year when the European Union had a higher GDP than the United States. The ratio between these two was highest at 1.90x in 1960, in favor of the US. With 1.16x of the US's GDP in 1980, the ratio was highest in favor of the EU. In PPP terms, the EU has been closely following the US since 1994.

As of 2024, the United States is almost double richer than the EU, and even in ppp, its figure is 38% higher than that of the European Union. The US had a greater GDP per capita than the EU since 1960.

The US is projected to grow above 2% in the upcoming years, and the EU might be well short of the 2% mark. The European Union attained a maximum GDP growth rate of 7.03% in 1969 and a minimum of -5.65% in 2020. During the period 1960-2023, the European Union grew by more than 5% in nine years. The United States reached an all-time high of 7.24% in 1984 and a record low of -2.58% in 2009. The United States grew by more than 5% during ten years. GDP growth rate was negative in seven years for the US. The European Union showed negative growth in six years.

  • GDP
  • GDP per capita
  • GDP growth

Projections by IMF

Year Nominal GDP (billions $) PPP GDP (billions Int. $) Nominal GDP capita ($) PPP GDP capita (Int. $) Growth (%)
USEUUSEU USEUUSEUUSEU
202327,720.7318,579.21527,720.7327,089.35282,71541,62382,71560,6882.8870.563
202429,167.7819,403.16229,167.7828,044.23586,60143,35386,60162,6602.7651.121
202530,337.1620,287.33030,337.1629,004.85089,67845,24089,67864,6802.1531.588
202631,526.9421,122.21031,526.9430,058.16792,78647,02092,78666,9122.0281.749
202732,786.7921,848.95232,786.7931,112.70396,07048,56596,07069,1562.1201.646
202834,096.0322,596.60134,096.0332,173.83399,46850,16499,46871,4252.1221.555
202935,457.9623,373.63735,457.9633,256.056102,98751,835102,98773,7512.1221.508

Estimates by World Bank

Year Nominal GDP (billions $) PPP GDP (billions Int. $) Nominal GDP capita ($) PPP GDP capita (Int. $) Growth (%)
USEUUSEU USEUUSEUUSEU
1960541.99285.07--3,000799----
1961561.94316.87--3,059880--2.3005.755
1962603.64350.22--3,236965--6.1005.695
1963637.06384.82--3,3661,051--4.4004.808
1964684.15426.86--3,5651,156--5.8006.011
1965741.91467.08--3,8181,254--6.4005.249
1966813.03505.70--4,1361,347--6.5004.294
1967859.62538.50--4,3261,423--2.5003.572
1968940.23578.00--4,6851,516--4.8005.564
19691,017.44645.04--5,0201,680--3.1007.025
19701,073.30729.23--5,2341,889--0.2175.508
19711,164.85824.29--5,6092,123--3.2933.661
19721,279.11994.40--6,0942,544--5.2564.774
19731,425.381,286.73--6,7263,271--5.6466.019
19741,545.241,456.74--7,2263,681---0.5413.126
19751,684.901,696.43--7,8014,261---0.206-0.586
19761,873.411,777.20--8,5924,441--5.3884.877
19772,081.832,012.78--9,4535,005--4.6242.929
19782,351.602,451.55--10,5656,067--5.5353.066
19792,627.332,962.56--11,6747,299--3.1663.858
19802,857.313,314.88--12,5758,129---0.2572.052
19813,207.042,893.85--13,9767,067--2.5380.540
19823,343.792,792.07--14,4346,795---1.8030.837
19833,634.042,714.74--15,5446,590--4.5841.440
19844,037.612,615.74--17,1216,335--7.2362.498
19854,338.982,690.01--18,2376,500--4.1702.321
19864,579.633,755.83--19,0719,050--3.4632.573
19874,855.224,642.29--20,03911,154--3.4552.539
19885,236.445,096.31--21,41712,206--4.1774.111
19895,641.585,205.66--22,85712,426--3.6723.881
19905,963.146,509.875,963.146,297.7723,88915,48823,88914,9841.8863.305
19916,158.136,733.636,158.136,564.6724,34215,96624,34215,565-0.1081.419
19926,520.337,392.196,520.336,757.6425,41917,47725,41915,9773.5220.888
19936,858.566,751.226,858.566,875.3926,38715,91026,38716,2022.752-0.642
19947,287.247,155.507,287.247,208.3527,69516,82027,69516,9454.0292.639
19957,639.758,296.097,639.757,564.2428,69119,46528,69117,7482.6842.679
19968,073.128,431.598,073.127,831.6529,96819,75029,96818,3453.7731.881
19978,577.557,733.848,577.558,151.5731,45918,08931,45919,0664.4472.653
19989,062.827,969.889,062.828,549.1432,85418,61632,85419,9694.4833.011
19999,631.177,925.849,631.178,896.4534,51518,48334,51520,7464.7882.949
200010,251.007,276.3910,251.009,478.0136,33016,94836,33022,0764.0783.901
200110,581.907,393.6110,581.909,962.6137,13417,19837,13423,1740.9562.176
200210,929.108,083.5210,929.1010,427.5037,99818,76037,99824,1991.7001.111
200311,456.509,932.1311,456.5010,684.3039,49022,96839,49024,7072.7960.908
200412,217.2011,418.9012,217.2011,226.6041,72526,30741,72525,8643.8482.593
200513,039.2011,910.1013,039.2011,680.2044,12327,34244,12326,8143.4841.925
200613,815.6012,712.6013,815.6012,728.0046,30229,09046,30229,1252.7853.494
200714,474.2014,727.5014,474.2013,610.4048,05033,58748,05031,0402.0043.156
200814,769.9016,295.4014,769.9014,293.3048,57037,04448,57032,4930.1140.641
200914,478.1014,762.8014,478.1014,028.5047,19533,48147,19531,815-2.577-4.349
201015,049.0014,556.1015,049.0014,510.6048,65132,96648,65132,8632.6952.225
201115,599.7015,765.2015,599.7015,204.5050,06635,76750,06634,4951.5641.901
201216,254.0014,641.6016,254.0015,434.5051,78433,16951,78434,9662.289-0.702
201316,880.7015,294.9016,880.7015,958.8053,41034,56553,41036,0652.118-0.083
201417,608.1015,651.4017,608.1016,442.4055,30435,28355,30437,0662.5241.601
201518,295.0013,553.9018,295.0016,993.3057,04030,48857,04038,2242.9462.309
201618,804.9013,888.8018,804.9018,066.7058,20731,17558,20740,5521.8191.972
201719,612.1014,765.9019,612.1019,038.5060,32233,09160,32242,6672.4582.845
201820,656.5015,981.4020,656.5019,960.5063,20135,75363,20144,6542.9672.067
201921,521.4015,694.1021,521.4021,560.8065,54835,08165,54848,1952.4671.805
202021,323.0015,381.4021,323.0021,089.2064,31734,35764,31747,106-2.213-5.653
202123,594.0017,315.1023,594.0023,216.1071,05638,72171,05651,9175.8006.009
202225,744.1016,761.5025,744.1025,652.0077,24737,46777,24757,3391.9353.479
202327,360.9018,349.4027,360.9027,125.2081,69540,82481,69560,3482.5430.451