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Visualized: The Stagnation of Europe’s Economic Powerhouse
November 1, 2024
Among the European Union members, Germany and its manufacturing sector have historically been the economic engine of Europe. In recent years, however, Germany has seen the most sluggish GDP growth of any advanced economy. The European powerhouse even saw negative real GDP growth in 2023.
From the period just prior to the pandemic (Q4 2019) through April 2024, German GDP has grown by just 0.19% amid economic stagnation. Germany’s languishing economy is primarily due to declining investments, weak demand globally for exports, structural challenges like an aging population, and increased competition in key industries like automotive.
Economists posit that the stagnation could last for a decade or more, and 10 projections put Germany in a tie with Italy as the weakest performing among 32 major economies.
For a sense of how pronounced Germany’s GDP growth has been, our friends at Visual Capitalist have put together the following infographic based on data from Eurostat.
