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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →U.S. real GDP grew 2.1% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)’s second estimate released in 2026. That is a calendar-year change—not a measure of growth in every quarter, and not a recession label.
To compare GDP with recessions, keep the measures separate: BEA reports GDP, while the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) dates recessions month by month. A recession can cover only part of a calendar year, so annual GDP growth and recession dates will not always line up neatly.
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What “GDP by year” measures
Gross domestic product is the value of final goods and services produced in the United States, without counting intermediate inputs more than once. For how quickly the economy grew, use the annual percentage change in real GDP, which adjusts for price changes. For the economy’s size in inflation-adjusted terms, use the real GDP level. Current-dollar, or nominal, GDP includes price changes and answers a different question.
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The BEA publishes annual real-GDP percentage changes from 1930 onward, real GDP levels from 1929 onward, and current-dollar GDP levels from 1929 onward through its GDP portal and downloadable tables. The exact historical figures depend on the BEA estimate vintage: later releases can revise previously published data. Label any chart or table with its measure, frequency, and BEA release date.
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Latest annual figure: 2025
| Measure | Figure | Period and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Real GDP, annual change | 2.1% | 2025 compared with the 2024 annual level; BEA second estimate released in 2026. |
| Real GDP, quarterly change | 0.7% annual rate | 2025 Q4; a quarterly rate expressed at an annual rate, not the full-year change. |
In the same second estimate, BEA revised the 2025 annual estimate down by 0.1 percentage point. These are figures from that release vintage; subsequent BEA releases may supersede them.
Recessions and major events by period
NBER dates U.S. business-cycle contractions from monthly peaks to troughs. The table pairs its postwar recession chronology with concise event context. The event labels provide historical setting; they do not establish that a particular event caused a particular annual GDP result.
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| Period | NBER recession dates | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1929–1933 | Great Depression-era contraction | Annual real GDP percentage changes begin in 1930 in the BEA series described here; the real GDP level series begins in 1929. |
| 1945 | 1945 | World War II demobilization recession. |
| 1948–1949 | 1948–49 | Postwar contraction. |
| 1953–1954 | 1953–54 | Postwar contraction. |
| 1957–1958 | 1957–58 | Postwar contraction. |
| 1960–1961 | 1960–61 | Postwar contraction. |
| 1969–1970 | 1969–70 | Postwar contraction. |
| 1973–1975 | 1973–75 | Oil-shock and stagflation era. |
| 1980 | 1980 | Part of the early-1980s disinflation recession period. |
| 1981–1982 | 1981–82 | Part of the early-1980s disinflation recession period. |
| 1990–1991 | 1990–91 | Early-1990s downturn. |
| 2001 | 2001 | Dot-com-era downturn. |
| 2007–2009 | 2007–09 | Global financial crisis. |
| 2020 | February–April 2020 | COVID-19 shock; NBER identifies this as the shortest recession in its chronology. |
Why annual GDP and recession dates can appear to disagree
The two measures use different time windows. Annual real GDP compares one calendar-year average with the prior year. NBER recession dates identify the months between a business-cycle peak and trough. If a recession starts or ends partway through a year, the annual figure also reflects activity outside the recession. A year can therefore show positive annual growth despite containing recession months, or a decline that reflects a sharp contraction averaged with stronger activity at other times.
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For a comparison chart, show annual real-GDP growth as yearly values and overlay recession shading using NBER’s monthly dates. Make the frequency difference explicit in the note. Do not treat two negative quarterly GDP readings as a substitute for NBER dating: NBER considers the depth, duration, and spread of a contraction across the economy, rather than applying a fixed two-quarter rule.
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What the 2020 recession shows
NBER dates the COVID-19 recession from the February 2020 monthly peak to the April 2020 trough. At two months, it was the shortest contraction in NBER’s chronology. The expansion before it lasted 128 months, from June 2009 to February 2020, the longest in that chronology.
Those monthly dates are not equivalent to a calendar-year GDP result. The recession began and ended within 2020, so the annual real-GDP change captures the whole year rather than only the two recession months.
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How to check a year or build a comparison
- Open the BEA GDP portal and select the annual real-GDP percent-change series to check growth. Use the real GDP level series if the question is the economy’s inflation-adjusted size; use current-dollar GDP only when nominal output is intended.
- Record the BEA release date or data vintage alongside each figure. Historical estimates can change in later releases.
- Compare the year with NBER’s peak-to-trough chronology. If you chart annual GDP beside recession bands, state that the GDP bars are annual and the recession dates are monthly.
- Keep event descriptions as context unless a separate, relevant source supports a specific causal claim.
The BEA GDP portal provides the interactive tables, downloadable annual series, and an archive of superseded vintages. The NBER chronology and its explanation of recession dating provide the corresponding recession dates and method.
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