The eurozone crisis is the single biggest threat to the global economy,according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The 17 nations that use the euro will see their economies shrink 0.1% this year, before rebounding to 0.9% growth next year, the OECD predicts.
By contrast, the US economy will expand by 2.4% this year and 2.6% in 2013.
The OECD also seemed to back calls by some Europeans to combine spending cuts with measures to boost growth.
"The crisis in the eurozone remains the single biggest downside risk facing the global outlook," said OECD chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan.
The organisation added: "Failure to act today could lead to a worsening of the European crisis and spillovers beyond the euro area, with serious consequences for the global economy."
The OECD predicted that the UK would grow by just 0.5% this year and by 1.9% in 2013. This comes after figures showed that the UK had returned to recession in the past two quarters.
Ahead of an informal summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on Wednesday, the OECD seemed to back calls from the new French president to enact measures such as "increasing European Investment Bank funding for infrastructure projects".
It also said that "better use" could be made of the European Central Bank's balance sheets and called for "a further easing in the euro area".
"Fiscal consolidation and structural measures must proceed hand in hand, to make the adjustment process as growth-friendly as possible," the OECD said.
The OECD is an organisation that consists of 34 countries, including the US and Western European nations.
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