Which has higher total factor productivity, Germany or United States?

Germany, at 0.9942 against 0.993 in United States as of 2023.

How many years of comparable data are there for Germany and United States?

70 years are reported by both, from 1954 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

Feenstra et al. - Penn World Table (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Total factor productivity. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Germany vs United States: Total factor productivity

Germany

0.9942

in 2023

United States

0.993

in 2023

Germany rank

58th

United States rank

61st

Total factor productivity over time

Germany
United States

How they compare

Germany currently reports 0.9942 against 0.993 in United States, a difference of 0.0012.

The two have swapped places 5 times across 70 shared years of data; in 1954 it was United States ahead.

Germany ranks 58th and United States ranks 61st of 120 countries.

Across the 8 decades both report, Germany averaged higher in 4 and United States in 4.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Germany	United States	Difference	Ahead
1950s	0.4423	0.6592	0.217	United States
1960s	0.5585	0.7285	0.17	United States
1970s	0.685	0.7703	0.0853	United States
1980s	0.7456	0.7807	0.0351	United States
1990s	0.8911	0.8329	0.0582	Germany
2000s	0.9418	0.9116	0.0302	Germany
2010s	0.9748	0.9477	0.0271	Germany
2020s	0.9953	0.9875	0.0078	Germany

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher total factor productivity, Germany or United States?: Germany, at 0.9942 against 0.993 in United States as of 2023.
What is the difference in total factor productivity between Germany and United States?: 0.0012, with Germany ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Germany and United States?: 70 years are reported by both, from 1954 to 2023.
How do Germany and United States rank globally for total factor productivity?: Germany ranks 58th and United States ranks 61st of 120 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Feenstra et al. - Penn World Table (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Total factor productivity. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Total factor productivity
Source: Feenstra et al. - Penn World Table (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 120 places, 6,892 data points, 1954–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

This is the level of total factor productivity, relative to each country's value in 2021 (which is set to 1). This data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.