Comparing United States and European Union by Economy

Source World Bank : Nominal, PPP, Nominal per capita, PPP per capita
International Monetary Fund: EU, US
Date08 Dec 2023

The United States and European Union are the two largest economies globally in nominal terms. As of 2023, both together share 43.36% and 29.96% of the entire global GDP in nominal and PPP terms, respectively.

As per projections by IMF for 2023, United States is leading by $8,599 bn or 1.47 times on an exchange rate basis. On purchasing power parity basis, the margin is less as the United States ahead by Int. $ 1,519 or 1.06 times. According to estimates by World Bank from 1970 to 2022, the US has higher gdp for 41 years, and European Union has higher gdp for 12 years. 2011 was the latest year when European Union had higher gdp than the United States. The ratio between these two was highest 1.62x in 1985 in favor of the US. With 1.15x of the US's gdp in 1980, the ratio was highest in favor of the EU. In ppp terms, the EU had been closely following the US since 1994.

As of 2023, The per capita income of the United States is 1.96 and 1.41 times higher than that of the European Union in nominal and PPP terms, respectively. The US had greater gdp per capita than the EU for data available since 1970.

European Union attains a maximum gdp growth rate of 6.01% in 1973 and a minimum of -5.67% in 2020. During the period 1970 to 2022, European Union grew by more than 5% only twice. The United States reached an all-time high of 7.24% in 1984 and a record low of -2.77% in 2020. The United States grew by more than 5% during ten years. GDP growth rate was negative in eight years for the US. 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
202326,949.6418,351.1326,949.6425,430.4180,41241,11480,41256,9752.0850.712
202427,966.5519,347.6627,966.5526,382.7583,06343,30083,06359,0451.4751.453
202529,048.8920,282.9329,048.8927,466.2285,87745,37585,87761,4441.8182.055
202630,223.8821,144.6430,223.8828,550.7988,93547,29088,93563,8542.0641.975
202731,428.8721,844.4631,428.8729,591.0592,05248,84692,05266,1682.1201.788
202832,690.3722,514.1032,690.3730,637.5395,30250,33995,30268,5022.1221.659

Estimates by World Bank

Year Nominal GDP (billions $) PPP GDP (billions Int. $) Nominal GDP capita ($) PPP GDP capita (Int. $) Growth (%)
USEUUSEU USEUUSEUUSEU
1960543.30---3,007-----
1961563.30---3,067---2.300-
1962605.10---3,244---6.100-
1963638.60---3,375---4.400-
1964685.80---3,574---5.800-
1965743.70---3,828---6.400-
1966815.00---4,146---6.500-
1967861.70---4,336---2.500-
1968942.50---4,696---4.800-
19691,019.90---5,032---3.100-
19701,073.30725.88--5,2341,880---0.283-
19711,164.85820.76--5,6092,114--3.2933.635
19721,279.11990.36--6,0942,534--5.2594.760
19731,425.381,281.93--6,7263,259--5.6466.009
19741,545.241,451.65--7,2263,668---0.5413.096
19751,684.901,690.76--7,8014,247---0.205-0.662
19761,873.411,769.94--8,5924,423--5.3884.892
19772,081.832,004.76--9,4534,985--4.6242.875
19782,351.602,442.53--10,5656,045--5.5353.050
19792,627.332,952.64--11,6747,275--3.1663.872
19802,857.313,302.96--12,5758,100---0.2572.075
19813,207.042,879.79--13,9767,033--2.5380.512
19823,343.792,777.19--14,4346,759---1.8030.813
19833,634.042,701.89--15,5446,559--4.5841.449
19844,037.612,603.22--17,1216,305--7.2372.496
19854,338.982,677.48--18,2376,469--4.1702.353
19864,579.633,743.79--19,0719,021--3.4632.586
19874,855.224,630.94--20,03911,127--3.4592.520
19885,236.445,083.94--21,41712,176--4.1774.162
19895,641.585,193.05--22,85712,396--3.6733.918
19905,963.146,497.765,963.146,231.3623,88915,45923,88914,8261.8863.383
19916,158.136,735.926,158.136,535.5624,34215,97224,34215,496-0.1081.859
19926,520.337,406.346,520.336,753.3425,41917,51025,41915,9663.5221.160
19936,858.566,761.166,858.566,877.9426,38715,93326,38716,2082.752-0.574
19947,287.247,161.937,287.247,212.5327,69516,83527,69516,9544.0292.652
19957,639.758,295.837,639.757,568.9828,69119,46428,69117,7592.6842.663
19968,073.128,431.368,073.127,833.7429,96819,75029,96818,3503.7731.882
19978,577.557,733.778,577.558,152.6131,45918,08931,45919,0684.4472.654
19989,062.827,969.839,062.828,548.9532,85418,61632,85419,9684.4813.011
19999,631.177,925.889,631.178,896.1134,51518,48334,51520,7454.7942.949
200010,250.907,276.6410,250.909,479.0636,33016,94836,33022,0784.0773.901
200110,581.907,393.8810,581.909,962.0437,13417,19937,13423,1720.9542.176
200210,929.108,083.7410,929.1010,422.1037,99818,76037,99824,1871.6961.111
200311,456.409,932.1811,456.4010,684.3039,49022,96839,49024,7072.7960.908
200412,217.2011,418.9012,217.2011,226.4041,72526,30741,72525,8643.8532.593
200513,039.2011,910.1013,039.2011,680.2044,12327,34244,12326,8143.4831.925
200613,815.6012,712.6013,815.6012,727.2046,30229,09046,30229,1232.7833.494
200714,474.2014,727.4014,474.2013,608.9048,05033,58748,05031,0362.0113.156
200814,769.9016,295.2014,769.9014,293.0048,57037,04448,57032,4920.1220.641
200914,478.1014,762.6014,478.1014,028.9047,19533,48047,19531,816-2.600-4.348
201015,049.0014,556.0015,049.0014,512.2048,65132,96548,65132,8662.7092.225
201115,599.7015,764.8015,599.7015,204.1050,06635,76750,06634,4941.5501.894
201216,254.0014,642.0016,254.0015,434.7051,78433,17051,78434,9662.281-0.700
201316,843.2015,294.8016,843.2015,958.6053,29134,56553,29136,0651.842-0.084
201417,550.7015,650.6017,550.7016,441.5055,12435,28155,12437,0642.2881.597
201518,206.0013,553.1018,206.0016,992.2056,76330,48656,76338,2222.7062.307
201618,695.1013,889.0018,695.1018,066.7057,86731,17557,86740,5521.6671.977
201719,477.3014,764.7019,477.3019,037.0059,90833,08959,90842,6632.2422.839
201820,533.1015,979.9020,533.1019,958.5062,82335,74962,82344,6502.9452.066
201921,381.0015,692.6021,381.0021,247.6065,12035,07865,12047,4952.2941.807
202021,060.5015,370.5021,060.5020,551.0063,52934,33363,52945,904-2.768-5.672
202123,315.1017,187.9023,315.1021,922.7070,21938,43670,21949,0245.9455.469
202225,462.7016,641.4025,462.7024,301.0076,39937,15076,39954,2492.0623.540