TIMELINE: Asian countries lead the world out of recession

(Reuters) - Japan's ruling coalition government finalized a $81 billion stimulus package on Tuesday, in its latest attempt to avoid a return to recession ahead of a July election for parliament's upper house.

Japan, and Asia-Pacific neighbors Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan and New Zealand all pulled out of recession in the second quarter, although recovery is expected to be gradual.

In Europe, Germany, France and Sweden have also announced a return to growth, however Britain's economy, by contrast, contracted in the third quarter.

Here is a timeline tracing when data showed economies emerging from recession to bounce back from the global financial crisis.

Aug 11 - Singapore's economy leaps out of recession, expanding in the second quarter at its fastest rate in nearly 6 years, thanks to a surge in biomedical production and construction.

Aug 14 - Hong Kong pulls out of its deepest recession since the Asian financial crisis in the second quarter, growing by a much faster-than-expected 3.3 percent from the previous quarter.

Aug 16 - Israel's economy grows by a surprising annualized rate of 1 percent in the second quarter, official data shows, indicating it has moved out of a recession.

Aug 20 - Taiwan's economy grows for the first time in over a year in the second quarter on an annualized basis and officials say they expected rising demand from China to support a strong recovery.

Aug 24 - Thailand's economy emerges from its worst recession in 11 years in the second quarter, growing 2.3 percent from the first quarter as manufacturing rebounded, adding to signs of recovery in Asia's export-reliant economies.

Aug 25 - Germany exits recession in the second quarter despite a massive drop in inventories and restocking by firms could spur the economy to faster growth.

Sept 11 - Japan's economy grows 0.6 percent in the three months to June, less than preliminary figures had shown but confirming that the economy crawled out of recession after a full year of sharp contraction.

-- Brazil exits its short-lived recession as second-quarter numbers show stronger-than-expected 1.9 percent return to growth for Latin America's largest economy after only two quarters of contraction.

-- Sweden inches out of recession, after contracting for four quarters in a row. The economy ekes out a 0.2 percent gain in the second quarter from the previous quarter.

Sept 23 - New Zealand unexpectedly ends its longest recession on record. Gross domestic product rises a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent in the second quarter, compared with a revised 0.8 percent drop in the previous three months, ending five straight quarters of contraction.

Sept 24 - The French economy, the euro zone's second-largest, emerges from recession, with unexpected economic growth in the second quarter after four consecutive quarters of contraction, confounding expectations for a 0.3 percent decline.

Oct 20 - Russia's economy puts recession behind it with third quarter growth, giving investors a further reason to chase the rouble to its strongest since December against the dollar.

Oct 29 - The U.S. economy grows in the third quarter for the first time in a year as consumer spending and investment in new home-building rebounded, data shows, unofficially ending the worst recession in 70 years.

Nov 13 - The euro zone shakes off recession in the third quarter although the largely government-engineered rebound after more than a year of shrinkage fell a bit short of forecast.

Nov 20 - Mexico ends of one of the world's deepest recessions in the third quarter, growing for the first time in a year due to stronger demand in the U.S. for exports like cars and steel.

Nov 30 - Canada's economy crawls out of recession in the third quarter after three quarters of contraction, but growth is subpar as industrial production continues to fall.

Dec 1 - The Swiss economy pulls out of recession in the third quarter thanks in part to robust private consumption.

Sources: Reuters

(Compiled by Gillian Murdoch; Editing by Kim Coghill)