Who’s winning the global race to economic growth? (Infographic)

Friday, January 15, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Economy, Infographic, Thought Leadership | Tags: recession, infographic, chart, GDP, recovery, economic growth, race

Predicting when an economy will grow or shrink is an inexact science, but Grant Thornton’s latest infographic takes the pulse of 14 recession-hit economies around the world to assess their economic fitness. It looks at GDP figures between 1997-2009 to see how countries such as the UK, France, Germany and the USA have performed – and to see who’s winning the race back to economic growth…

Click to view the infographic at a larger size

The figures are based on GDP figures supplied by OECD  and other sources over the period, with each quarter of positive growth edging a country closer to the finish line.

While the British economy was still in recession towards the end of 2009, it has shown a period of sustained growth over the years when compared with other countries, such as Germany and Korea. However, it seems to have stalled just at the finishing line after a recent run of negative growth.

Japan, meanwhile, saw a marked slowdown in growth in the 1990s and entered a severe recession in 2008, hence its position at the back of the pack. But it does seem to be off the starting blocks again after returning to growth in the second quarter of 2009. 

So who is winning the race? Answer: the USA. Despite the credit crunch arising from its sub-prime mortgage lending market, the United States returned to growth in the third quarter of 2009  and appears to be leading the recession-hit pack – although time will tell if this is due to fiscal stimulus packages propping up the economy, or if a deeper recovery is in evidence.

View more Grant Thornton infographics:

* Reasons for divorce vs state of the economy
* New World Powers in Innovation