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Coronavirus pushing much of the world into record slumps
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A shopper wearing a facemask as a precaution against the novel coronavirus passes a shop advertising a clearance sale in Chester, northwest England on Wednesday. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed most of the world's major economies into unprecedented contractions in the second quarter, except for China which escaped a recession. (AFP/Paul ELLIS )
T
he coronavirus pandemic has pushed most of the world's major economies into unprecedented contractions in the second quarter, except for China which escaped a recession.
Here are the second quarter changes in gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the previous quarter for the world's top economies. Unless stated otherwise, the figures are from the national statistics institutes.
Germany
Europe's top economy was hit less hard by the coronavirus than its neighbors, but still saw its GDP fall by 10.1 percent in the second quarter.
As GDP had already declined by 2 percent in the first quarter, Germany's economy met the definition of a recession: two consecutive quarters of contracting GDP. Germany's previous record for a quarterly GDP drop: 4.7 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
France
The eurozone's number two economy was in a longer and stricter lockdown than its eastern neighbor, and second quarter GDP fell more steeply, by 13.8 percent, after a drop of 5.9 percent in the previous three months. Previously the worst quarterly GDP growth in France happened in 1968 because of a general strike in May of that year.
Italy
Italy's growth was impacted very early on by the coronavirus which hit its richest region, Lombardy, particularly hard. Italian GDP fell by 5.4 percent in the first quarter and then by 12.4 percent in the second, pushing the country into recession.
Spain
After a 5.2 percent drop in the first quarter, Spain's economy contracted a further 18.5 percent in the second, notably because of a 60 percent drop in tourism income and a fall by one third in exports.
Eurozone
The eurozone's overall GDP plunged 12.1 percent in the three months to June, after 3.6 percent in the first quarter, making the second quarter downturn "by far" the worst since statistics agency Eurostat started compiling growth data for the area in 1995.
United Kingdom
The UK suffered the worst recession in Europe in the first two quarters of the year, also recording the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe. GDP fell 20.4 percent in the second quarter after a 2.2 percent drop in the first.
United States
The United States, the world's top economy, suffered a 9.5 percent slump in the second quarter following a 1.3 percent drop in the first, according to figures published by the OECD. The US government publishes annualized figures (-32.9 percent in the second quarter), a method that is not comparable with most other countries.
China
China, the world's second-largest economy, may have been where the novel coronavirus originated, but thanks to strict lockdown measures it was able to largely halt the spread of the virus and reopen factories, thus avoiding a recession.
In the second quarter its economy rebounded by 11.5 percent, having fallen by 10 percent in the first quarter. Still, growth for this year will be much below what China has become accustomed to for decades.
Japan
Japan announced in mid-May it was already in recession when first quarter GDP slid by 0.6 percent after a 1.9 percent drop in the final quarter of 2019. The world's number three economy has yet to publish second quarter GDP figures.
