Key points from the chart
- The chart splits each year’s US real GDP growth from 1990 to 2024 into four parts: consumer spending, private investment, net exports and government.
- Consumer spending is the largest positive driver in almost every year. By our sums of the BEA figures it supplied about 72% of all real growth over the 35 years [2][3].
- Private investment swings the most. It added up to 2 percentage points in the late 1990s and took 3.49 points off growth in 2009 [4].
- Net exports reduced growth in 25 of the 35 years, and helped mainly in downturns such as 1991, 2008 and 2009, when imports fell [5].
- Government spending is smaller and steadier. It added growth in recession years such as 2009 and 2020 and subtracted in 2011 to 2014 [6].
The chart in text
Title: Key Drivers of U.S. Economic Growth (1990 to 2024). Subtitle: Contributions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product. A stacked bar for each year, with segments above zero adding to growth and segments below zero subtracting from it, and a black line for total real GDP growth. Vertical axis from minus 6 to 8 percentage points.
- Legend: red, Personal consumption expenditures. Purple, Gross private domestic investment. Grey, Net exports of goods and services. Light blue, Government expenditures and investment. Black line, Gross domestic product.
- Labels: 2008, Global Financial Crisis. 2020, COVID-19 Pandemic.
- Footer: Source: BEA. www.econovis.net, @econovisuals.
The graphic prints no values. The table gives the BEA figures behind it as published on FRED, in percentage points of real GDP growth [2][3][4][5][6]. The four contributions add up to the GDP figure, give or take rounding.
| Year | Real GDP growth, % | Consumer spending | Private investment | Net exports | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 1.9 | 1.28 | minus 0.45 | 0.40 | 0.65 |
| 1991 | minus 0.1 | 0.12 | minus 1.09 | 0.62 | 0.25 |
| 1992 | 3.5 | 2.36 | 1.11 | minus 0.04 | 0.10 |
| 1993 | 2.7 | 2.24 | 1.24 | minus 0.56 | minus 0.17 |
| 1994 | 4.0 | 2.51 | 1.90 | minus 0.41 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 2.7 | 1.91 | 0.55 | 0.12 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 3.8 | 2.26 | 1.49 | minus 0.15 | 0.18 |
| 1997 | 4.4 | 2.45 | 2.01 | minus 0.31 | 0.30 |
| 1998 | 4.5 | 3.42 | 1.76 | minus 1.14 | 0.44 |
| 1999 | 4.8 | 3.49 | 1.62 | minus 0.90 | 0.59 |
| 2000 | 4.1 | 3.29 | 1.31 | minus 0.85 | 0.33 |
| 2001 | 1.0 | 1.63 | minus 1.11 | minus 0.24 | 0.67 |
| 2002 | 1.7 | 1.70 | minus 0.16 | minus 0.67 | 0.83 |
| 2003 | 2.8 | 2.13 | 0.76 | minus 0.49 | 0.40 |
| 2004 | 3.8 | 2.54 | 1.64 | minus 0.63 | 0.30 |
| 2005 | 3.5 | 2.38 | 1.26 | minus 0.30 | 0.14 |
| 2006 | 2.8 | 1.95 | 0.60 | minus 0.06 | 0.30 |
| 2007 | 2.0 | 1.63 | minus 0.49 | 0.52 | 0.34 |
| 2008 | 0.1 | 0.10 | minus 1.52 | 1.04 | 0.49 |
| 2009 | minus 2.6 | minus 0.88 | minus 3.49 | 1.07 | 0.72 |
| 2010 | 2.7 | 1.31 | 1.84 | minus 0.43 | minus 0.02 |
| 2011 | 1.6 | 1.16 | 0.95 | 0.12 | minus 0.67 |
| 2012 | 2.3 | 0.94 | 1.65 | 0.12 | minus 0.42 |
| 2013 | 2.1 | 1.18 | 1.19 | 0.20 | minus 0.46 |
| 2014 | 2.5 | 1.91 | 1.09 | minus 0.31 | minus 0.16 |
| 2015 | 2.9 | 2.27 | 1.08 | minus 0.77 | 0.37 |
| 2016 | 1.8 | 1.65 | minus 0.02 | minus 0.16 | 0.35 |
| 2017 | 2.5 | 1.79 | 0.77 | minus 0.20 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 3.0 | 1.86 | 1.02 | minus 0.26 | 0.35 |
| 2019 | 2.6 | 1.45 | 0.57 | minus 0.11 | 0.68 |
| 2020 | minus 2.1 | minus 1.69 | minus 0.79 | minus 0.21 | 0.60 |
| 2021 | 6.3 | 5.87 | 1.59 | minus 1.21 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 2.4 | 1.97 | 1.08 | minus 0.35 | minus 0.26 |
| 2023 | 2.9 | 1.56 | 0.15 | 0.44 | 0.76 |
| 2024 | 3.0 | 1.95 | 0.65 | minus 0.42 | 0.77 |
What the pattern shows
Growth was strongest in the late 1990s, peaking at 4.8% in 1999, with consumer spending adding 3.49 points and investment 1.62 [2][3][4]. The 2001 recession cut growth to 1.0% as investment turned negative. In 2008 growth almost stopped (0.1%), and in 2009 the economy shrank 2.6%, the only year apart from 2020 when consumer spending fell [2][3].
2020 is the other big dip: real GDP fell 2.1%, led by a drop of 1.69 points from consumer spending, while government added 0.60 [2][3][6]. The rebound in 2021 was the strongest year in the series at 6.3%, almost all of it from consumers (5.87 points), with net exports taking 1.21 points away as imports surged [2][3][5]. From 2022 to 2024 growth settled between 2.4% and 3.0%.
How the BEA measures contributions
GDP is the value of the final goods and services produced in the United States, and the growth figure most people hear is the change in real GDP, adjusted to remove inflation [7]. Spending on that output comes from households, businesses, government and the rest of the world, so the BEA can say how many percentage points of growth came from each. Imports are subtracted, which is why net exports usually pull the total down for a country that buys more from abroad than it sells.
The BEA revises its estimates as new source data arrive, so old GDP numbers change over time [7]. Values read off the chart may differ a little from the current figures in the table.
Notes on this infographic
- The chart was made with BEA data available in early 2025. Later revisions moved some years slightly: 2021 growth now stands at 6.3% and 2020 at minus 2.1% in the current FRED series [2]. The shape of the chart is unchanged.
- Contributions are percentage points of total growth, not growth rates of each component. A 2 point contribution from consumers does not mean consumer spending grew 2%.
- The chart is an accounting split of spending. It does not measure deeper causes of growth such as productivity or population.
Questions about economic growth drivers
What are the drivers of economic growth?
In the GDP accounts used for this chart, growth is driven by four kinds of spending: consumer spending, private investment, government spending and net exports [7]. In the United States consumer spending has been the biggest of these, supplying about 72% of real growth from 1990 to 2024 by our sums of BEA data [2][3].
What drives the US economy?
Household spending. It added to growth in 33 of the 35 years from 1990 to 2024, while business investment rises and falls with the economic cycle and usually causes the biggest drops in recessions, as in 2001, 2008 and 2009 [3][4].
What was US GDP growth in 2024?
US real GDP grew 3.0% in 2024, according to current BEA figures on FRED [2]. Consumer spending contributed 1.95 percentage points, government 0.77 and private investment 0.65, while net exports took 0.42 points off [3][4][5][6]. Growth settled between 2.4% and 3.0% in each year from 2022 to 2024.
How much did US GDP fall in 2020?
US real GDP fell 2.1% in 2020, the year the chart labels COVID-19 Pandemic [2]. Consumer spending took 1.69 percentage points off growth, while government added 0.60 [3][6]. The economy rebounded in 2021 with growth of 6.3%, the strongest year in the series, almost all of it from consumers at 5.87 points [2][3].
Sources
- Econovis, Key Drivers of U.S. Economic Growth (1990 to 2024), 2 February 2025, the creator’s post of this chart.
- US Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED, Real Gross Domestic Product, percent change from preceding period (A191RL1A225NBEA).
- BEA via FRED, Contributions to percent change in real GDP, personal consumption expenditures (DPCERY2A224NBEA).
- BEA via FRED, Contributions to percent change in real GDP, gross private domestic investment (A006RY2A224NBEA).
- BEA via FRED, Contributions to percent change in real GDP, net exports of goods and services (A019RY2A224NBEA).
- BEA via FRED, Contributions to percent change in real GDP, government consumption expenditures and gross investment (A822RY2A224NBEA).
- US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gross Domestic Product, Learning Center.
Last reviewed 30 October 2026
