Western European real GDP change over select periods between 1960-1990
In the given periods, real GDP across Western Europe grew fastest in the 1960s and early 1970s, before the recession of 1973-1975 brought this to an end. Growth then dropped again in the early 1980s, as the Iranian Revolution (1978-1979) and Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) saw oil prices soar yet again, contributing to further recessions and a reduction in overall growth when compared with previous decades. It was not until the second half of the 1980s when the rate of economic growth in Western Europe increased again, although it did not reach the same high rates seen in the 1960s.