Press release No. 040 of 29 January 2021
Gross domestic product (GDP), 4th quarter of 2020
+0.1% on the previous quarter (price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted)
-2.9% on the same quarter a year earlier (price-adjusted)
-3.9% on the same quarter a year earlier (price- and calendar-adjusted)
WIESBADEN – The gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2020 was almost unchanged compared with the third quarter of 2020 after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. After the historic 9.7% slump of the gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2020, the German economy was recovering in the summer of the year (+8.5% in the third quarter). In the fourth quarter, however, the recovery process slowed due to the second coronavirus wave and another lockdown imposed at the end of the year. This affected household consumption in particular, while exports of goods and gross fixed capital formation in construction supported the economy. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the resulting GDP decline was 5.0% for the year 2020 as a whole (calendar-adjusted: -5.3%).
Gross domestic product still markedly down in a pre-crisis comparison
GDP in the fourth quarter of 2020 was down a price-adjusted 2.9% and a price- and calendar-adjusted 3.9% compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, the quarter before the corona crisis began.
Revision of previous results
In addition to calculating first data for the fourth quarter of 2020, the Federal Statistical Office reviewed the results published earlier and included new statistical information in the calculations for the remaining quarters of 2020. This resulted in just slight changes (0.1 percentage points) of the quarterly GDP data published previously for the first and second quarters. Detailed data on the recalculations are shown in the table “Comparison between old and new figures” at the end of this press release.
More information
Detailed results for the fourth quarter of 2020 will be released by the Federal Statistical Office on 24 February 2021.
A long time series with quarterly results on the gross domestic product starting with the first quarter of 1970 is available here.
Crisis Monitor enables comparison between corona crisis and financial/economic crisis
The gross domestic product is also part of the "Crisis Monitor" (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), in which the Federal Statistical Office compares the development of major short-term indicators in the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The Crisis Monitor complements the "Corona statistics" webpage (www.destatis.de/corona), which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic.
| Unadjusted figures | Figures according to X13 price-adjusted | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At current prices | Price-adjusted | Seasonally and calendar-adjusted | Calendar- adjusted | |||||
| EUR billion | % 1 | 2015 = 100 | % 1 | 2015 = 100 | % 2 | % 1 3 | ||
| 1 Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. 2 Change on the previous year or quarter in %. 3 As for year the calendar-adjusted values equal the seasonally and calendar-adjusted values (except for differences due to rounding). qtr = quarter | ||||||||
| 2020 | 3,330.23 | -3.4 | 101.51 | -5.0 | 101,29 | -5.3 | -5.3 | |
| 2019 | 1st qtr | 845.82 | 3.0 | 106.36 | 1.0 | 107.23 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| 2nd qtr | 846.94 | 1.9 | 105.36 | -0.3 | 106.69 | -0.5 | 0.1 | |
| 3rd qtr | 870.15 | 3.6 | 107.74 | 1.2 | 107.02 | 0.3 | 0.7 | |
| 4th qtr | 886.14 | 2.5 | 107.79 | 0.2 | 107.00 | 0.0 | 0.4 | |
| 2020 | 1st qtr | 851.06 | 0.6 | 104.44 | -1.8 | 104.87 | -2.0 | -2.2 |
| 2nd qtr | 768.87 | -9.2 | 93.46 | -11.3 | 94.69 | -9.7 | -11.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 843.12 | -3.1 | 103.53 | -3.9 | 102.75 | 8.5 | -4.0 | |
| 4th qtr | 867.18 | -2.1 | 104.62 | -2.9 | 102.85 | 0.1 | -3.9 | |
| New result | Previous result | Difference | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects using X13 | Unadjusted
| Figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects using X13 | Unadjusted
| Figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects using X13 | Unadjusted
| ||
1 Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures: change on previous quarter; qtr = quarter | |||||||
| Change, percent 1 | Percentage points | ||||||
| 2020 | 1st qtr | -2.0 | -1.8 | -1.9 | -1.7 | -0.1 | -0.1 |
| 2nd qtr | -9.7 | -11.3 | -9.8 | -11.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | |
| 3rd qtr | 8.5 | -3.9 | 8.5 | -3.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| 4th qtr | 0.1 | -2.9 | x | x | x | x | |
