GDP reading: GDP rose 0.2% in seasonally adjusted month-on-month terms in February, following a 0.1% increase in the prior month....
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Live Global GDP Growth Forecast
Last updated 30 April 2026
Current 2026 Global GDP Growth Consensus Forecast
2.57
-0.12 pp
30 days ago
The FocusEconomics World GDP Consensus Forecast is based on 3,500 individual projections for GDP growth across 198 countries.
Global GDP Forecast Evolution
The latest FocusEconomics Consensus forecasts World Real GDP growth at 2.57% in 2026. In the last month, panelists cut the 2026 growth forecast by 0.12 percentage points, reflecting a weaker outlook for Germany, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. On the contrary, upgrades for China, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan helped partially offset the downgrade.
Global GDP Forecast Revisions
During the latest week, Korea recorded the largest upward revision to its 2026 real GDP growth among G20 economies, with FocusEconomics panelists raising their projection by 0.09 percentage points. Brazil and China followed with upgrades of 0.01 and 0.00 percentage points respectively. Conversely, Saudi Arabia saw the steepest downgrade, with its 2026 growth forecast cut by 0.17 percentage points. Turkey and Germany were right behind and experienced downward revisions of 0.07 and 0.05 percentage points respectively.
Latest GDP News
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Canada: Economic growth rises in February
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United States: Economic growth accelerates in the first quarter of 2026
GDP reading: The United States’ GDP grew 2.0% on a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualized (SAAR) basis in Q1, following 0.5%...Read more
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Malaysia: Economic growth eases in the first quarter of 2026
GDP growth moderates in the first quarter of the year: According to an advance estimate, Malaysia’s GDP grew 5.3% on...Read more
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United Kingdom: GDP growth in February likely overstates economy’s true strength
GDP reading: GDP rose 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis in February, following a 0.1% increase in the prior...Read more
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6500
Total Individual Forecasts
368
Participating Institutions
39
Commodities Forecasts
198
Countries Covered
Frequently Asked Questions
The global GDP forecast for 2026 is the latest FocusEconomics Consensus estimate of the real variation (i.e., adjusted for price changes) in the total value of all goods and services produced globally in 2026 compared to the previous year. In other words, it is an estimate of how much the world’s total economic output is expected to grow or shrink in 2026.
The global GDP forecast is updated daily, in order to ensure that the forecast always reflects the latest available data. Data is not updated on weekends and public holidays in Spain.
The global GDP forecast is the weighted average of the GDP growth forecasts for the 198 countries FocusEconomics covers, updated daily. The weighted average is calculated using each country’s nominal GDP in U.S. dollars at market exchange rates—not based on purchasing power parity (PPP) weights, which are typically used by institutions like the IMF and World Bank.
FocusEconomics compiles forecasts from the leading international investment banks, national financial institutions, consulting firms, think tanks, professional forecasting companies, credit rating agencies and public institutions. The global GDP forecast is based on 3,123 projections from 368 institutions.
The depth of the panel—with hundreds of contributing institutions—combined with daily forecast updates makes the global GDP growth projections timely as well as accurate. Moreover, every individual forecast from a contributing institution undergoes rigorous quality control checks from our in-house team of economists and data analysts before being incorporated into the global projection.
Multiple factors influence the global economic outlook. Chief among them are government and central bank policies (tax and spending measures, structural reforms, interest rate changes, etc), geopolitical developments (trade agreements, conflict, etc), the rate of technological change, and natural disasters.
The global GDP forecast for 2026 is similar to the 2025 outturn, and thus the joint-weakest since the pandemic-induced contraction of 2020. This is a result of global trade tensions and an ongoing slowdown in China’s economic growth potential; China had in past years been a significant contributor to global growth.