B.R. economic growth ranked No. 207 globally

With 0.4% growth in its gross domestic product between 2011 and 2012, and an 0.8% increase in employment, Baton Rouge’s economic performance is ranked 207th among the world’s largest 300 metropolitan economies. That’s according to the “Global MetroMonitor,” a comprehensive report released today by the Brookings Institution. “Baton Rouge has partially recovered from a major recession,” the report says, noting it is “lagging the United States” in both employment and GDP per capita improvements since the recession took hold. Baton Rouge is also ranked No. 153 in the report for its economic performance during the recession, between 2007 and 2011, when GDP decreased 3.6% and employment shrank 1.7%. For its economic performance between 1993 and 2007, Baton Rouge is ranked No. 144 (GDP increased 2.8% during that span, while employment expanded by 1.7%). The “Global MetroMonitor” lumps 60 cities into each of five different ranking categories based on economic performance: strongest, second-strongest, middle, second-weakest and weakest. Baton Rouge is included in the second-weakest category for its economic growth between 2011 and 2012. New Orleans, the only other Louisiana metro listed on the report, is ranked No. 274 for its performance between 2011 and 2012 (GDP decreased 1.2% and employment shrank 0.2%) and is included in the weakest category. The Chinese metro area of Macau is ranked No. 1 in the report. Athens, Greece, is ranked No. 300. The Brookings Institution has created an interactive map with all of the data from the report. Check it out here.