Press release No. 018 of 15 January 2020
WIESBADEN - According to first calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the price-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) was 0.6% higher in 2019 than in the previous year. The German economy thus has grown for the tenth year in a row. This has been the longest period of growth in united Germany. However, growth lost momentum in 2019. In the previous two years, the price-adjusted GDP grew much more strongly (by 2.5% in 2017 and by 1.5% in 2018). Compared with the average of the last ten years (+1.3%), the German economic growth in 2019 was lower.
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -5.7 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.6 |
In calendar-adjusted terms, the GDP growth rate in 2019 was 0.6%, too, as the number of working days was the same as in 2018.
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -5.6 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.6 |
Contributions to growth came mainly from consumption expenditure
Growth in 2019 was mainly supported by consumption expenditure. Household final consumption expenditure rose by a price-adjusted 1.6% on the previous year, government final consumption expenditure by 2.5%. This means that the increase in household and government final consumption expenditure was larger than in the previous two years (household final consumption expenditure +1.3% year on year both in 2017 and in 2018; government final consumption expenditure +2.4% in 2017 and +1.4% in 2018, year on year).
Gross fixed capital formation increased substantially, too. Gross fixed capital formation in construction was up a price-adjusted 3.8% on a year earlier. Particularly strong increases were recorded for civil engineering and housing construction. Gross fixed capital formation in other fixed assets (+2.7%), which include research and development, was also much higher than a year earlier. Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment, however, increased less strongly (+0.4%). Total price-adjusted gross capital formation, which covers gross fixed capital formation and changes in inventories (including acquisitions less disposals of valuables), fell by 1.7% in 2019 year on year. Reasons for the marked reduction of inventories are low industrial output and higher exports.
German exports continued to increase on an annual average in 2019, though at a slower pace than in the previous years. In price-adjusted terms, German exports of goods and services were up 0.9% on 2018. The increase in price-adjusted imports (+1.9%) was larger.
Economic performance up in the service sector, but markedly down in industry
On the production side of the GDP, there were two different economic trends in 2019. On the one hand, the service sector and the construction industry recorded mainly high growth rates. On the other hand, industry (not including construction) saw an economic slump. Consequently, total price-adjusted gross value added rose by just 0.5% in 2019 on the previous year.
The highest growth rate was recorded by the construction industry (+4.0%). There were above-average increases also in the service sector, that is, in information and communication and in financial and insurance activities (+2.9% each). Sharp drops were however recorded in many parts of industry. The output in industry (not including construction), which accounts for just over a quarter of the total economy, was down by 3.6%. Especially the low output in the automotive industry contributed to the decrease.
Again all-time high in employment
The economic performance in Germany on an annual average in 2019 was achieved for the first time by more than 45 million persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany. According to first calculations, 45.3 million people were in employment, that is roughly 400,000 more than in 2018. This 0.9% increase was mainly due to a rise in employment subject to social insurance. Higher labour force participation and the immigration of foreign workers more than offset age-related demographic effects and emigration from Germany, as had been the case in the preceding years.
General government achieved marked surplus again
According to provisional calculations, general government budgets achieved a surplus in 2019 for the eighth time in a row. It amounted to 49.8 billion euros, which was not quite as much as the record surplus of 62.4 billion euros in 2018. Central government accounted for the largest share of the surplus (19.2 billion euros), followed by state government (13.3 billion euros), social security funds (10.7 billion euros) and local government (6.6 billion euros). Measured as a percentage of nominal GDP, this was a 1.5% surplus ratio of general government for 2019.
Quarterly GDP results will be available earlier
Starting with the second quarter of 2020, the Federal Statistical Office will release results of the GDP early estimate as early as 30 days after the end of any quarter. This means that a first official assessment of the development of the quarterly GDP for Germany will be available two weeks earlier than in the past. The GDP early estimate for the second quarter of 2020 will be released already in late July 2020; it will replace the GDP first release which currently is published after 45 days. The detailed calculations will continue to be published in a detailed press release about 55 days after the end of the quarter (that is, on 25 August 2020 for the second quarter).
The detailed results for the fourth quarter of 2019 will still be released in accordance with previous practice, that is, after about 45 days after the end of the quarter. First GDP results for the fourth quarter of 2019 will be published by the Federal Statistical Office on 14 February 2020. Detailed results will be released on 25 February 2020.
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change on the previous year in % | ||||
| At current prices | ||||
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 4.6 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 5.0 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 5.0 | 4.6 | 6.3 | 5.4 |
| D o m e s t i c u s e s | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 2.9 |
| Exports | 1.6 | 6.6 | 3.1 | 1.7 |
| Imports | 1.8 | 7.9 | 5.5 | 1.8 |
| G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP) | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.7 |
| Gross national income | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 2.9 |
| Net national income (factor costs) | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 2.3 |
| Compensation of employees | 3.9 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Property and entrepreneurial income | 3.8 | 2.1 | -0.5 | -2.9 |
| Disposable income of households | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.8 |
| Price-adjusted | ||||
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 4.1 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 2.5 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 3.8 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 2.5 |
| GFCF in construction | 3.8 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.8 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 0.4 |
| GFCF in other products | 5.2 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 2.7 |
| D o m e s t i c u s e s | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 1.0 |
| Exports | 2.4 | 4.9 | 2.1 | 0.9 |
| Imports | 4.3 | 5.2 | 3.6 | 1.9 |
| G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP) | 2.2 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.6 |
| GDP per person in employment | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.1 | -0.3 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Gross value added, total | 2.2 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 |
| including: | ||||
| Manufacturing | 4.2 | 3.1 | 1.5 | -3.6 |
| Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points | ||||
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Changes in inventories, etc. | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | -0.9 |
| Domestic uses | 2.8 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports) | -0.6 | 0.3 | -0.4 | -0.4 |
More information
More detailed results are published in Fachserie 18 “National Accounts”, Series 1.1 “First Annual Results”.
Other publications on national accounts and a detailed quality report can be found at Publications.
Visualised updated results are also provided in our interactive national accounts dashboard (available only in German).
The above and other current national accounting results are available in the GENESIS-Online database (81000).
Detailed documents relating to the press conference are available here (only in german).
