High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Friday, July 31, 2009
GDP Growth - EU Comparison
Annual Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) growth rates for Scotland and the small EU countries are calculated on a rolling four quarters on four quarters basis - this compares annual growth to the year end of the most recent quarter. Over the period 2000Q3 to 2008Q2, annual GDP growth rates in the Small EU countries have generally exceeded Scottish GDP growth rates. However, the aggregate annual growth rate of the Small EU countries has declined more rapidly than in Scotland in recent quarters, down from 3.1% in 2007Q4 to -1.8% in 2009Q1.
As a result annual GDP growth rates in Scotland have exceeded Small EU growth rates for the three consecutive quarters. However, the gap between annual Scottish and Small EU GDP growth rates declined by 0.1 percentage points in the Small EU's favour between 2008Q4 and 2009Q1. This is due to an easing in the quarterly rate of decline in the Small EU countries between 2008Q4 and 2009Q1 - driven in particular by Sweden and Ireland - and a deterioration in the quarterly rate of decline in Scotland over the same period.
The Scottish Government has set a target to match the GDP growth rate of the small independent EU countries by 2017.
View chart data
Source: Scottish Government, OECD
Further Information