It has grown even faster in Eastern Europe (from a lower base of course). On the GDP change figure at PPP (second, at the right), Romania is off the chart.
Also, US is clearly able to be more productive overall, while Europe able to create a higher quality of life for a higher fraction of its population. Which of these facts will be sustained in the next decades remains to be seen.
I think you missed the part about Eastern Europe. From the article:
European GDP per head is about two-thirds that of America. The figure has not fallen in the past 20 years thanks mostly to poorer eastern Europeans getting closer to Western income levels.
Would suggest that as the faster GDP Growth came from Eastern European areas offsetting a stagnating GDP Growth from the rest of Europe. Am I not reading this correctly?
I agree with this and on top of it, the GDP per capita of the EU grew at the same pace as that of the US over the last 20 years only because poorer Eastern European countries are catching up to Western Europe. The GDP growth rates in France, Germany, UK etc have been anemic during the same period.
The EU did a great job at distributing wealth eastward, the GDP per capita of Slovakia for example doubled in the last 20 years, far outpacing the growth in the US.
Yes. Try actually doing the calculation ((Year 2022 / Year 2000) - 1) * 100% for both and you’re going to see the EU had faster growth over that time period.
Though double checking my calculation the US should be 91%.
Yeah, this is entirely down to the explosive growth of low-GDP mostly-eastern-Europe[1] nations as they approach parity with the rest of the EU. The countries that made up the "EU" of 2000 have generally done poorer than the USA[2] in GDP per capita growth.
What happened? Simple: Eastern Europe has been experiencing constant GDP growth for the past 3 decades, while Japan stagnated.
Also, regarding sibling comment about relevance of PPP metrics: I challenge you to come to Czechia or Poland - the quality of life can really surprise you. Those are, for example, the two countries with the lowest unemployment rates in EU. We have nice apartments and houses (with photovoltaic panels and heat pumps, mind you), drive nice cars, have good healthcare and free higher education.
Unless I get a $1M+ per year offer from a FAANG in Silicon Valley I feel like no country in the world can offer me a significantly better standard of living.
The Eastern European countries have been growing consistently for years. If you only look at economics countries like Poland have been doing very well.
You have to remember Western Europe has developed economies. They aren't likely to grow at the rate Asian countries are as those economies have a lot of catching up to do.
Also European countries don't necessarily have the same priorities as the US for example. Most of us prefer decent workers rights and consumer protections over 1/2% on GDP.
Then why is real gdp per capita in many Western European countries mostly stagnant since 2008? If what you’re saying was true, Europe should be growing faster than USA and even faster than countries like China that have much worse social safety nets.
Also Slovenia, but eastern europe as a whole (even if the rest did not surpass) has been improving according to the report; I had been trying to spin it optimistically for the US as being less a decline there than improvement elsewhere in the world...
This is not correct. If you adjust for population size, most of highly-developed Europe is doing much worse than the USA right now. That includes Germany, Switzerland, etc.
Also, US is clearly able to be more productive overall, while Europe able to create a higher quality of life for a higher fraction of its population. Which of these facts will be sustained in the next decades remains to be seen.
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