UN predicts world economic growth at subdued 2.8% in 2025

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The world economy resisted battering by conflicts and inflation last year and is expected to grow a subdued 2.8% in 2025, the United Nations said Thursday.

In “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2025,” U.N. economists wrote that their positive prediction was driven by the strong although slowing growth forecast for China and the United States and by the robust performances anticipated for India and Indonesia. The European Union, Japan, and United Kingdom are expected to experience modest recovery, the report says.

“We are in a period of stable, subpar growth,” said Shantanu Mukherjee, chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Branch at the Economic Analysis and Policy Division at the U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

“This may sound a bit like what we were saying last year, but actually if you lift the hood and take a peek at the engine things are humming,” he said.

The report says the U.S. economy outperformed expectations last year thanks to consumer and public-sector spending, but growth is expected to slow from 2.8% to 1.9% this year.

The report points out that China sees its own strong growth slowing slightly from 4.9% in 2024 to 4.8% in 2025 due to lower consumption and property-sector weaknesses that are failing to make up for public investment and export strength. This is forcing the government to enact policies to lift property markets, fight local government debt and boost demand.

China’s “shrinking population and rising trade and technology tensions, if unaddressed, could undermine medium-term growth prospects,” the report reads.

The U.N. projected last January that 2024 global economic growth would be 2.4%. It said Thursday that the rate was estimated to have been higher,