U.S. Earnings Growth Has Dramatically Outpaced the Rest of the World

The gap between U.S. corporate earnings growth and the rest of the world has reached an extreme level.
Since 1990, earnings of U.S. companies have increased by nearly 1,300%.
By comparison, earnings across global markets excluding the U.S. have risen by roughly 500% over the same period.
That means U.S. earnings growth has been about 2.6 times stronger than the rest of the world.
The divergence is even more striking since the Global Financial Crisis.
From roughly 2008 through 2025, aggregate profit growth outside the U.S. remained broadly stagnant while U.S. corporate earnings continued expanding.
This long-term earnings advantage helps explain why U.S. equities have commanded higher valuations and attracted such a large share of global capital.
The key question is whether that exceptional earnings gap can continue, or whether slower U.S. growth and improving profits overseas eventually begin to narrow the divergence.