Change in GDP in select Western European countries in the First World War 1913-1919

Of the five major belligerent Western European countries in the First World War, the United Kingdom was the only one to experience overall GDP growth, albeit at just one percent. Austria and Germany, the two primary instigators of the war, saw their GDP fall by 38 and 28 percent, respectively. France and Belgium, two nations that saw some of the highest levels of destruction during the war, saw their GDP fall by 25 and 20 percent, respectively.