Backgrounder: Major economies' growth speed in 2014, forecast rates in 2015 - Xinhua

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The global economic recovery lacks speed and momentum, with major economies performing unevenly in 2014. Despite downward pressure, China's economic growth rate still outpaced most major economies in the world.

Below are the growth rates or projected growth rates of some major economies in 2014 and growth forecasts for 2015 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

-- The U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.4 percent in 2014 from 2013, its fastest pace in four years, and it was projected to accelerate to 3.6 percent in 2015 by the Washington-based IMF, distancing itself from most advanced economies.

-- The Chinese economy grew 7.4 percent in 2014, against the government-set growth target of "around 7.5 percent," registering its weakest annual expansion since 1990. China announced Thursday that it targets economic growth of approximately 7 percent in 2015. It was projected to expand 6.8 percent this year by the IMF.

-- The Japanese economy grew by a mere 0.04 percent last year, but it was forecast to pick up steam to expand 0.6 percent in 2015 by the IMF.

-- The eurozone economy expanded by 0.9 percent for all of 2014, still too weak to convincingly signal a full-blown recovery, and the IMF predicted a pick-up in economic growth at 1.2 percent this year for the region.

-- The German economy, the Europe's largest, grew 1.6 percent in 2014, but was projected to slow to 1.3 percent in 2015 by the IMF.

-- For the year of 2014 as a whole, the British economy grew 2.6 percent and was forecast to expand 2.7 percent this year by the IMF.

-- Hit by the declining oil price, the Russian economy expanded by a mere 0.6 percent in 2014, and it was forecast to contract 3 percent this year by the IMF.

-- The Indian economy was predicted to jump 5.8 percent and 6.3 percent respectively in 2014 and 2015 by the IMF.

-- Affected by a slowdown of activities in mining and electricity industries, South Africa's economy eased pace to register a 1.5-percent growth in 2014 and was predicted to expand 2.1 percent in 2015 by the IMF.