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Five years after the outbreak of COVID-19, global economies have taken different paths in their return to economic growth.

While some countries have outpaced their pre-pandemic GDP growth expectations as of 2025, others have been slow to recover.

This infographic visualizes how real GDP growth from 2019 to 2025 compares to pre-pandemic growth trends across major economic regions. The data comes from the IMF’s World Economic Outlook of April 2025.

U.S. GDP Growth Beats Pre-Pandemic Trend

Most major economies have made up for some of the damage done during the 2020 recession, although their growth still lags behind pre-pandemic trends.

The U.S. is the only major economy whose GDP growth has surpassed the pre-pandemic projections from 2019 to 2025, as shown in the table below:

U.S. real GDP has grown 14.6% from 2019 to 2025, beating the pre-pandemic trend by 4.0 percentage points (pp) as of 2025.

Meanwhile, China’s real GDP growth from 2019–2025 is -7.4 pp lower than pre-pandemic projections. This is similar to other emerging markets and developing economies, where GDP growth lags previous projections by -8.0 pp in 2025.

The euro area’s recovery has also lagged, with GDP growth falling 2.8 percentage points short of its pre-pandemic trend of 2025. According to the IMF, the region was particularly susceptible to energy market shocks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Europe being a major importer of Russian fossil fuels.

Why U.S. GDP Growth Outperformed Other Countries

According to analysis by Brookings, the United States’ standout recovery relative to international peers is largely down to the aggressive fiscal support provided during the pandemic.

The generous financial relief provided to households and businesses enabled consumption to grow at a faster rate post-pandemic, compared to other major economies. Additionally, the U.S. also saw an investment boom—as of 2024, investment in the U.S. was 14% above the pre-pandemic level.

Despite the strong recovery over the last five years, U.S. GDP growth is now projected to hit a speed bump following the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs announced in April 2025.

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