GDP growth spread, major economies, 1961 to 2025

Each box summarizes one year's real GDP growth across ten major economies (the United States, China, Japan, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Canada, and South Korea): the line inside is the median, the box spans the middle half, whiskers reach the typical extremes, and dots mark outliers. The window runs from 2000.

How it is measured

Growth is the World Bank's annual real GDP growth indicator, measured in constant local currency so inflation and exchange rates stay out. For each year the ten countries' rates are sorted; the box shows the 25th to 75th percentile with Tukey whiskers, and any economy outside 1.5 times that range plots as its own dot.

What the chart shows

The box's position tells you how the world economy did; its height tells you whether countries moved together. The 2009 and 2020 boxes sit far below zero and stretch long, global shocks with unequal damage, while mid-2010s boxes are short and centered near 3 percent, synchronized modest growth. Persistent outlier dots above the boxes are usually China and India.