In 2022, the gross domestic product (GDP) of OECD member economies expanded by 2.9 percent, stepping down from 2021’s 5.7 percent surge yet remaining above pre-pandemic levels, which stood at 1.9 percent in 2019. This snapshot highlights how the OECD region faced a year of slower growth overall, even as activity still moved forward in many economies, a sign that momentum from the recovery phase carried into the current cycle.
Growth across the OECD region cooled through the year, with the last quarter showing particular weakness. The official statement released this week notes that the policy rate remained at 0.3 percent for the preceding three months, reflecting ongoing monetary tightening and the cautious stance adopted by the agencies monitoring the world’s most advanced economies. This context matters for households and businesses across Canada, the United States, and other major economies as they weigh investment and spending plans against tighter financial conditions.
Alongside the OECD figures, the slowdown extends to the G7 nations, where persistently high inflation and rising interest rates challenged growth trajectories. For countries that have already published more granular GDP updates, quarterly increases slowed to 0.4 percent in the closing months of 2022, down from 0.5 percent in the prior quarter. In this environment, Germany and Italy posted negative results (-0.2 percent and -0.1 percent, respectively), while France, Canada, and the United States all posted decelerations without outright contractions, underscoring the uneven path of the global expansion.
The persistence of fluctuating international market movements continued to shape outcomes in late 2022. For instance, the United Kingdom illustrates how external demand can swing the growth picture: net exports contributed to a 0.8 percentage point drag on GDP relative to the earlier third quarter boost of about 3.7 percentage points from external demand. This kind of dynamic suggests that external shocks and trade flows remain a central driver of GDP swings—even for large, diversified economies in North America and Europe.
In the fourth quarter, both the United Kingdom and the euro area faced stagnation on overall GDP growth, even as quarterly measures showed a slight positive impulse in some months. Specifically, the euro area registered essentially zero growth in the fourth quarter, despite a marginal 0.1 percent uptick in the period, reflecting the fragile balance of external demand, energy prices, and domestic demand within the currency union.
Looking at country-specific trajectories, Spain posted a modest 0.2 percent GDP rise between October and December 2022. Among Latin American members, countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia showed small gains, while Chilean data remained incomplete at the time of the report. These snapshots illustrate the uneven distribution of growth across regions and the role of sectoral performance, investment cycles, and policy responses in shaping the year’s overall outcome.
The OECD emphasized the ongoing impact of the Ukraine conflict, noting that its effects remained substantial through the second half of the year, particularly for nations closest to the conflict zone. The disruption to energy markets, supply chains, and investor sentiment contributed to broader economic headwinds that affected both production and consumption patterns across member economies.
Among the member states, Poland stood out with the most pronounced contraction in late 2022, posting a 2.4 percent decline in GDP growth. The contrast with other OECD members underscores how regional disparities and geopolitical spillovers can translate into divergent performance within a single grouping, even as the general trend remains more positive than in the depths of the pandemic era.
In terms of annual performance, the OECD recorded the strongest year-over-year expansion among those member economies for which detailed figures were available. Ireland led with a 12.2 percent increase, a striking contrast to Latvia’s 1.5 percent rise, the lowest among the reporting members. These extremes reflect the varied landscapes of economies within the OECD, driven by factors such as domestic demand strength, export composition, and sectoral dynamics, including the technology and services sectors in Ireland and the broader manufacturing and energy mix affecting Latvia.
Overall, the 2022 landscape for OECD economies demonstrates a year of transition. Growth slowed compared with the peak pandemic rebound, but domestic resilience, export diversification, and policy responses continued to anchor activity in many member states. Stakeholders across North America and Europe—policymakers, investors, firms, and households—will likely focus on inflation trajectories, monetary policy paths, and the evolving trade environment as they navigate the year ahead. In this environment, the OECD’s latest projections and the regional breakdowns provide a useful compass for Canadian and U.S. decision-makers as they calibrate plans for investment, hiring, and consumer demand in the near term. (OECD data, 2022; cross-country analysis by the OECD Secretariat)” ,