GDP growth

The world economy grew 3.5% in 2025 (3.5% in 2024). Interest rates, the budget and foreign demand set spending; output then moves jobs, tax receipts and imports, and over time living standards. Hover or tab through a step for details.

The median real policy rate is +0.8%, above zero, so monetary policy is restraining borrowing and spending. Of 35 central banks tracked, 14 cut rates in the past 12 months, 15 hiked and 6 held; the median policy rate is 4.25%.

The budget balance went from -5.1% of GDP in 2024 to -5.0% in 2025. The stance barely changed, so fiscal policy adds little new push either way. Part of any change is the cycle itself, since tax receipts rise in booms.

For the median economy, exports were 35% of GDP in 2025 (34% a year earlier). Trade doesn't add to world output on net, since every export is someone's import, but it spreads demand and specialisation gains across borders.

Real GDP grew 3.5% in 2025, after 3.5% in 2024; the IMF projects 3.1% for 2026. Output adds up spending by households, firms, government and foreigners (net of imports), adjusted for inflation.

Unemployment (advanced economies) rose to 4.7% in 2025 (4.6% in 2024). Okun's law: growth above trend usually pulls the jobless rate down, roughly half a point for each point of extra growth, while growth below trend pushes it up.

Growth feeds the budget through automatic stabilisers: more income and spending lift tax receipts, while fewer jobless claims cut outlays. The IMF sees the balance moving from -5.0% of GDP in 2025 to -5.5% in 2026.

Part of each extra unit of spending goes on foreign goods, adding to other countries' output rather than the importer's GDP. Imports were 34% of GDP in 2025 for the median economy, versus 33% a year earlier.

Output per person was $14.7K in 2025 (+5.0% on 2024), measured in current US dollars, so exchange rates and inflation move it too. Lasting gains come from productivity: more jobs, capital and better technology per worker.