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economic growth — English
The financial progress of a country or a region. Positive growth entails the increase of the output of goods and services produced by an economy, and the simultaneous improvement of the average financial status and overall well-being of the people in that country or region. Unfortunately that does not always happen. After the international stock market collapse of 2008, a number of developed states (see “development” and “developing countries”) showed no economic growth, and their financial status diminished (or shrank). That is negative economic growth. Many people lost their jobs, the states themselves could not repay their debts, and their economies went into a state of near-stagnation. However, certain developing states were far less affected by the collapse, and a number of developing states (such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) emerged as fast growing economies. Economic growth can be measured in a number of ways, namely the per capita GNP (see “development” and “developing countries”), the per capita income of the people in the community, the employment rate, the annual number of newly unemployed people who have to receive some kind of social provision, and so forth. However, one also has to bear in mind that the size of the economy is extremely important. A drop of one per cent in the growth of the economy of the United States of America has far wider and more serious impacts than a drop of one per cent in the economic growth of South Africa. Currently the fastest growing economies are in the so-called BRICS countries, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
