Seven indicators across 186 countries, from 2000 to 2024. Hovering any country shows all seven at once.
Source: World Bank World Development Indicators and IMF International Financial Statistics. Coverage varies by measure: GDP growth and inflation reach most countries, while fiscal balance and real interest rates are reported by fewer than half, since not every government publishes them on a comparable basis. Currency change is calculated against the US dollar, where positive means the currency strengthened. Reserves are expressed in months of import cover, which is the standard adequacy measure — three months is the conventional floor.
A country reports 4% growth. Whether that is good news depends entirely on what surrounds it.
Turkey grew 3.3% in 2024 while inflation ran at 58% and the lira lost 27.6% of its value against the dollar. Norway grew 1.4%, with a current account surplus of 15% of GDP and a fiscal surplus of 13.6%. Reducing either to a growth figure discards almost everything that matters.
This is why macro analysis works with a dashboard rather than a headline. Growth alongside a widening external deficit means something different from growth alongside a surplus. High interest rates mean something different when inflation is higher still. The pattern carries the information, not any single number.
The map therefore shows all seven measures in the hover panel regardless of which one is coloured.
GDP growth — annual change in real output. The headline figure, and the least informative on its own.
Inflation — annual change in consumer prices. Erodes real incomes and, above roughly 10%, tends to distort investment decisions across the economy.
Real interest rate — the lending rate less inflation. Negative values mean savers lose purchasing power and borrowing is effectively subsidised.
Current account — the balance of trade in goods, services, income and transfers, as a share of GDP. A persistent deficit means a country consumes more than it produces and must finance the difference from abroad.
Fiscal balance — government net lending or borrowing as a share of GDP. Sustained deficits accumulate as public debt.
Reserves — foreign exchange holdings expressed in months of import cover. This is the standard adequacy measure, and three months is the conventional floor. Expressing reserves in dollars would mostly tell you how large a country is; the cover ratio tells you how resilient it is.
Currency change — annual movement against the US dollar, where positive means the currency strengthened. Sharp depreciation raises the cost of imports and of dollar-denominated debt simultaneously.
Coverage varies substantially by measure. GDP growth reaches 182 countries and inflation 170, but fiscal balance and real interest rates reach only 86 each. Those two maps carry a great deal of grey. The absence is itself informative: reporting these on a comparable basis requires statistical capacity many governments lack.
The dollar is a convention, not a neutral benchmark. Currency movement is measured against the US dollar because that is how it is conventionally reported. A country’s currency can weaken against the dollar while strengthening against its actual trading partners.
Annual figures conceal within-year volatility. A currency that fell 30% and recovered 25% shows as a modest annual decline. For countries in crisis, the annual average understates the disruption.
None of this is a forecast. These are historical outturns. The word “outlook” describes the dashboard’s purpose rather than any predictive content.
Related work:
Data from the World Bank World Development Indicators and IMF International Financial Statistics.