Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by about two per cent throughout the UNECE region in the first three quarters of 2017.
In the United States (US), GDP increased by 2.2 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year. In 2016, GDP grew by 1.5 per cent from 2015.
In the European Union, in January – September 2017, GDP growth was slightly stronger reaching 2.4 per cent, while the growth in 2016 was 1.9 per cent compared to 2015. GDP growth in the Euro zone countries almost kept pace (2.3 per cent) with the EU average.
By the end of 2017, maintaining the current growth rates would bring most of the remaining EU countries above the levels preceding the economic crisis in 2009. In 2016, nine EU countries were still below that level of GDP. GDP grew during the first three quarters of 2017 in all EU countries, fastest in Ireland, Malta and Hungary at about a rate of 7 per cent compared to the previous year. At the other end of the spectrum, only Belgium, France, Italy and Greece recorded less than two per cent GDP growth.
For the first time since 2013, the GDP growth in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) almost reached the pace of the US and EU. During the first three quarters of 2017, GDP diminished only in Azerbaijan by 0.6 per cent. Among the largest economies in the region, the strongest growth (4.3 per cent) was seen in Kazakhstan.