GDP trends in certain countries have been compared since 1990. Of the countries included in this comparison, the United States had the lowest growth in the first two years of the decade. In 1991 their GDP even decreased. However, in every year since then U.S. growth rates were the highest. The Japanese economy flourished quite impressively initially, but soon after this the growth there declined.
Recent developments show recovery, however.
The fifteen members of the European Union together reached a low in 1993. The fluctuations in the growth figures of the EU are slight, compared with other economic power blocks. In this decade the fluctuations have been strongest in Japan. In spite of the fact that the Dutch economy is one twentieth the size of the American one, remarkably the two business cycles have shown obvious parallels in the last five years. Household consumption Seen from an expenditure perspective, consumption by private households is by far the largest component of the gross domestic product.