Europe Was Once Bigger Than The US Economy. What Happened?

The United States and the European Union are the two largest Western economies of the 21st century. The Early Rise and Fall of the EUThe 15-member European Union was established in 1993 from precursor organizations such as the European Communities. The table below shows the size of the EU economy relative to the U.S. economy from 2006 to 2026. In a June 2016 referendum, British voters narrowly chose to make the United Kingdom the first country to withdraw from the European Union. That leaves the EU economy at just 71% the size of the U.S. economy, a sharp reversal from its position in 2008.