The pace of the economic rebound after the huge recession in 2020 surprised many analysts. Production in the 38 most wealthy OECD countries combined is likely to exceed pre-pandemic levels a few months ago. The OECD average unemployment rate of 5.7% is close to the post-war average and aggregate household income, adjusted for inflation, is above pre-COVID levels.

The journalists note, however, that there are serious differences in how individual economies have dealt with the pandemic among the richest nations. To assess these differences, The Economist compiled data on five economic and financial indicators – GDP, household income, stock market performance, investment spending and sovereign debt – for 23 countries.

The list of the best performing economies opens in the following order: Denmark, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Chile, Poland and Ireland. The last places in the ranking were taken by Japan, Great Britain and Spain.

Adrian Andrzejewski