The statistic shows the growth of the real gross domestic product (GDP) in the EU member states in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the same quarter of the previous year. GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. It is considered to be a very important indicator of the economic strength of a country and a positive change in it is a sign of economic growth. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the real GDP in Romania increased by 0.6 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The overall EU GDP amounted to almost 14 trillion euros around the same time.
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, Greece’s 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.
