GDP growth in EU countries compared to same quarter previous year 2nd quarter 2020
Global economy and the economic crisis
The global economy has been slowly recovery after having been devastated by the global financial crisis in 2008. The economic crisis, which hit Greece, Ireland and Portugal, among other countries, severely, marked the beginning of the European sovereign debt crisis which forced these nations to request a bailout between 2013 and 2014.
In November 2014, the unemployment rate in Greece amounted to around a desastrous 25 percent, which means one quarter of Greeks who were of working age were out of work. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate average for the whole European Union was at 10 percent. In addition, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Ireland ranked at the top of the list of the nations in the European Union with the largest national debt in relation to the gross domestic product. In the third quarter of 2014, Greeceās national debt amounted to 176 percent of the gross domestic product.
Despite the crisis, the global economy is expected to improve. It is estimated that GDP in the European Union will grow by 1.85 percent in 2015 in comparison to the previous year. Also, the national debt in relation to GDP in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Ireland will decrease between 2015 and 2016.