Press release No. 069 of 25 February 2025
Gross domestic product (GDP), 4th quarter of 2024
-0.2% on the previous quarter (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-0.4% on the same quarter a year earlier (price adjusted)
-0.2% on the same quarter a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – The gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.2% in the 4th quarter of 2024 compared with the 3rd quarter of 2024 after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that this confirms the result published in the first release of 30 January 2025. For the whole year of 2024, the most recent calculations have confirmed the year-on-year decline in economic performance of 0.2% (also -0.2% after calendar adjustment).
| 2023 | 2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr |
| 0.1 | -0.2 | 0.2 | -0.4 | 0.2 | -0.3 | 0.1 | -0.2 |
Substantial decline in exports, final consumption expenditure up from the previous quarter
In the 4th quarter of 2024, exports of goods and services were down considerably (-2.2%) compared with the 3rd quarter of 2024, after price, seasonal and calendar adjustment. A higher decline in exports was last recorded in the 2nd quarter of 2020. Exports of goods, in particular, decreased substantially by 3.4% compared with the previous quarter. By contrast, imports of goods and services increased by 0.5%. There was a decline in the imports of goods (-1.0%), whereas imports of services rose markedly by 4.2%.
There were diverging trends for investments in the 4th quarter of 2024. Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment was down 0.3% on the previous quarter, after price, seasonal and calendar adjustment, marking the fifth consecutive decrease. By contrast, gross fixed capital formation in construction rose by 1.0% compared with the 3rd quarter of 2024, partly owing to the mild weather conditions. Overall, gross fixed capital formation was 0.4% higher than in the 3rd quarter of 2024. Final consumption expenditure also recorded a quarter-on-quarter increase (+0.2%), with growth in government final consumption expenditure (+0.4%) outpacing household final consumption expenditure (+0.1%).
Gross value added down in most sectors
In the 4th quarter of 2024, gross value added decreased by 0.3% on the previous quarter after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. Economic performance in manufacturing was down 0.6%, which was the seventh consecutive drop. Substantial decreases in production were particularly recorded in the manufacture of machinery and equipment and the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers. By contrast, the manufacture of fabricated metal products and electrical equipment increased quarter on quarter. Economic performance in the construction industry was also down again, falling by 0.9%. A decline was recorded particularly for building completion work, which is less dependent on the weather. Outside industry, gross value added in the financial and insurance activities sector was substantially lower than in the previous quarter (-2.1%). Performance in business services and other services was also down compared with a quarter earlier (-0.3% each). By contrast, value added was up (following price, seasonal and calendar adjustment) in the aggregate sectors of trade, transport, accommodation and food services (+0.5%) and public services, education, health (+0.3%).
Gross domestic product down year on year
GDP in the 4th quarter of 2024 was down a price adjusted 0.4% compared with the 4th quarter of 2023. The decrease was smaller (-0.2%) after price and calendar adjustment as there was one working day less than in the same period a year earlier.
| 2023 | 2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr |
| 0.6 | -0.4 | -0.7 | -0.4 | -0.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -0.4 |
Investments and exports down markedly year on year, government final consumption expenditure increasing considerably
Investments fell by 2.7% in the 4th quarter of 2024 compared with the same quarter a year earlier, after adjustment for price variations. The investment volume was also down year on year in the other three quarters of 2024. After adjustment for price variations, gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment recorded a particularly sharp decline of 6.4% compared with the 4th quarter of 2023. Gross fixed capital formation in construction was also down in the 4th quarter of 2024 compared with the same period of the previous year, but the decline was less pronounced (-1.9%).
By contrast, household final consumption expenditure was up on the same quarter a year earlier, increasing by a price adjusted 0.3%. This was due, for example, to higher expenditures on health services and non-durable consumer goods. These include food, gas and motor fuels. The general government sector also increased its consumption expenditure in the 4th quarter of 2024, which rose substantially by 4.0%. The increase on the same period a year earlier was due, in particular, to higher social benefits in kind for hospital treatment, medication and care, for example. Expenditures were also up in the area of youth welfare, integration assistance and public assistance.
Developments in foreign trade were mixed in the 4th quarter of 2024. Exports dropped by a price-adjusted 3.2% on the same quarter a year earlier, mainly because exports of goods declined significantly (-5.2%). This was partly due to lower exports of machinery, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers and electrical equipment. By contrast, imports were up 2.8%. Imports of both goods (+1.2%) and services (+6.5%) were up on the same quarter of the previous year. The positive development of service imports was attributable, in particular, to an increase in telecommunication services, information service activities and business services.
Manufacturing and construction markedly down year on year, service branches up
Price adjusted gross value added decreased by a total of 1.6% in the 4th quarter of 2024 on the same quarter of 2023. The development of gross value added was very different in manufacturing and in the service sector. While the service branches as a whole recorded an increase (+0.4%), economic performance in manufacturing fell markedly (-3.5%). The decline was even more pronounced in construction (-3.9%). Here, building construction and building completion work continued to contract markedly whereas civil engineering expanded considerably.
In the service sector, the aggregated branch of public services, education, health (+2.5%), in particular, performed much better in the 4th quarter of 2024 than in the same period a year earlier. Price adjusted gross value added increased also in information and communication (+1.9%) and other services (+0.3%), while financial and insurance activities (-2.5%) and business services (-1.1%) recorded declines. In trade, transport, accommodation and food services, economic performance fell slightly by 0.2%, following two consecutive increases.
Number of persons in employment almost unchanged
The economic performance in the 4th quarter of 2024 was achieved by roughly 46.3 million persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany. The number of persons in employment therefore remained roughly at the level of the same quarter a year earlier (-8,000; 0.0%). Increases in the service branches offset the decreases observed in industry and construction (see Press release no. 062 (only in German) of 18 February 2025).
On average, more hours were worked per person in employment than in the 4th quarter of 2023 (+0.8%). The labour volume of the overall economy - the number of persons in employment multiplied by the higher number of hours worked per person in employment - was up by 0.7% in the same period. This is shown by provisional calculations of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency.
Overall labour productivity (price adjusted GDP per hour worked by persons in employment) fell by 1.1% on the same quarter of the previous year. Labour productivity per person in employment was only 0.4% lower than a year earlier.
Incomes rose more sharply than nominal consumption, savings ratio up on previous year
At current prices, GDP rose by 2.1% and the gross national income by 2.7% in the 4th quarter of 2024 compared with a year earlier. Net national income at factor costs was up only 1.3% on the 4th quarter of 2023. The comparatively lower increase in net national income is mainly attributable to a base effect due to the discontinuation of the brake on electricity and gas prices at the end of 2023. According to provisional calculations, the compensation of employees and total gross wages and salaries rose by 4.6%, whereas property and entrepreneurial income dropped by 8.3%. As the number of employees increased slightly, average gross wages and salaries per employee went up by 4.4% in the 4th quarter of 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier. The increase was smaller in net terms (+4.1%). This is attributable to a base effect as premiums were paid at the end of 2023 to compensate for inflation which were not subject to tax and contribution payments.
Compared with the same quarter a year earlier, the rate of growth of household final consumption expenditure at current prices (+2.7%) in the 4th quarter of 2024 was just as weak as in previous quarters. As the disposable income increased somewhat more (+3.6%) year on year, the savings ratio was higher at the end of 2024 (10.6%) than a year earlier (9.9%).
Germany's economy compared with other countries
The economies of the other large Member States of the European Union (EU) and of the EU as a whole also slowed towards the end of the year. While Spain (+0.8%) and the EU as a whole (+0.2%) recorded increases compared with the 3rd quarter of 2024, Italy's GDP stagnated (0.0%), after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar effects. The decline of economic performance in France (-0.1%) was similar to that recorded in Germany (-0.2%). Economic performance in the USA increased by 0.6% on the previous quarter and by 2.5% on the 4th quarter of 2023, more than in many European countries. At -0.2%, the year-on-year development of economic performance in Germany was clearly below that of the EU as a whole (+1.1%), after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations.
| USA | Euroarea | EU 27 | France | Italy | Spain | Germany | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous quarter: change on the third quarter of 2024; Same quarter of the previous year: change on the fourth quarter of 2023. Source: Eurostat and own calculations | |||||||
| Previous quarter | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 | -0.1 | 0.0 | 0.8 | -0.2 |
| Same quarter of the previous year | 2.5 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 3.5 | -0.2 |
A detailed comparison of the EU Member States’ growth rates is available on the "Europe in figures" web page on the Federal Statistical Office’s website.
Revision of previous results
Departing from the usual approach taken at this time of the year, the Federal Statistical Office not only recalculated the data for the first three quarters of 2024 for this press release, but also revised data for earlier periods in some time series. More information is available in the "Current news" (only in German) section on the "National accounts, domestic product" page of the Federal Statistical Office’s website. The recalculations have not resulted in any corrections to the GDP for 2024 or previous years.
Methodological notes:
The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons of seasonally and calendar adjusted figures with those of the previous month or quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. Year-on-year comparisons enable longer-term comparisons of levels and are not influenced by seasonal fluctuations.
More information:
More detailed results are contained in Tables 81000 of the GENESIS-Online database and our German publications Fachserie 18 “National Accounts“, Series 1.2 "Vierteljahresergebnisse" and Series 1.3 “Seasonally adjusted quarterly results using X13". A long time series containing quarterly results on the gross domestic product since the first quarter of 1970 is available in the “Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnungen“ statistical report (only in German).
GDP data are also available on Economic Dashboard, which is part of Dashboard Germany at www.dashboard-deutschland.de (only in German). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, the labour market, construction, housing, energy and Ukraine. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.
| Unadjusted figures | Figures according to X13 price adjusted | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At current prices | Price adjusted, chain-linked | Seasonally and calendar adjusted | Calendar adjusted | |||||
| EUR billion | % 1 | 2020 = 100 | % 1 | 2020 = 100 | % 2 | % 1 3 | ||
| 1 Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year. 2 Change on the previous year or quarter in %. 3 As for years the calendar adjusted values equal the seasonally and calendar adjusted values (except for differences due to rounding). qtr = quarter | ||||||||
| 2022 | 3,953.85 | 7.5 | 105.09 | 1.4 | 104.91 | 1.4 | 1.5 | |
| 2023 | 4,185.55 | 5.9 | 104.81 | -0.3 | 104.84 | -0.1 | -0.1 | |
| 2024 | 4,305.26 | 2.9 | 104.56 | -0.2 | 104.63 | -0.2 | -0.2 | |
2022 | 1st qtr | 963.76 | 8.9 | 105.13 | 3.7 | 104.75 | 0.2 | 3.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 967.07 | 8.0 | 103.44 | 0.9 | 104.73 | 0.0 | 0.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 995.32 | 6.9 | 105.74 | 1.3 | 105.35 | 0.6 | 1.4 | |
| 4th qtr | 1,027.70 | 6.6 | 106.03 | -0.4 | 104.81 | -0.5 | 0.2 | |
2023 | 1st qtr | 1,034.14 | 7.3 | 105.72 | 0.6 | 104.96 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| 2nd qtr | 1,024.06 | 5.9 | 102.98 | -0.4 | 104.80 | -0.2 | 0.0 | |
| 3rd qtr | 1,048.71 | 5.4 | 104.96 | -0.7 | 105.00 | 0.2 | -0.3 | |
| 4th qtr | 1,078.64 | 5.0 | 105.57 | -0.4 | 104.61 | -0.4 | -0.2 | |
| 2024 | 1st qtr | 1,064.83 | 3.0 | 104.90 | -0.8 | 104.86 | 0.2 | -0.1 |
| 2nd qtr | 1,060.79 | 3.6 | 103.12 | 0.1 | 104.55 | -0.3 | -0.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 1,078.22 | 2.8 | 105.10 | 0.1 | 104.66 | 0.1 | -0.3 | |
| 4th qtr | 1,101.42 | 2.1 | 105.14 | -0.4 | 104.45 | -0.2 | -0.2 | |
| 2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | |
| 1 Including acquisitions less disposals of valuables and the statistical difference between production and expenditure approach. 2 Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP, percentage points. 3 Only seasonally adjusted. qtr = quarter | ||||
| Unadjusted figures Change on the previous year | ||||
| Final consumption expenditure | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Household final consumption expenditure | 0.7 | -0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 1.7 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.0 |
| Gross capital formation | -7.6 | -6.2 | -0.7 | 4.9 |
| Gross fixed capital formation | -3.3 | -2.5 | -2.4 | -2.7 |
| Gross fixed capital formation in construction | -5.1 | -3.4 | -2.7 | -1.9 |
| Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment | -4.9 | -4.8 | -6.0 | -6.4 |
| Other fixed assets | 4.9 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 2.4 |
| Changes in inventories 1 2 | -1.1 | -0.8 | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| Domestic uses | -1.1 | -0.6 | 0.9 | 2.2 |
| Exports | -1.9 | 0.9 | -0.2 | -3.2 |
| Imports | -3.1 | -0.6 | 1.6 | 2.8 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports) 2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | -0.8 | -2.5 |
| Gross domestic product | -0.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -0.4 |
| memorandum item: | ||||
| GDP per person in employment | -1.1 | -0.1 | 0.1 | -0.4 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment | 0.5 | 0.3 | -0.1 | -1.1 |
| Seasonally and calendar adjusted figures change on the previous quarter | ||||
| Final consumption expenditure | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| Household final consumption expenditure | 0.2 | -0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.1 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 0.4 |
| Gross capital formation | -0.6 | -1.2 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| Gross fixed capital formation | 0.3 | -2.0 | -0.5 | 0.4 |
| Gross fixed capital formation in construction | 0.7 | -2.1 | -0.5 | 1.0 |
| Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment | -0.8 | -3.2 | -1.2 | -0.3 |
| Other fixed assets | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | -0.2 |
| Changes in inventories 1 2 | -0.2 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Domestic uses | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Exports | 1.5 | 0.2 | -1.9 | -2.2 |
| Imports | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports)2 | 0.2 | -0.4 | -1.1 | -1.2 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 0.2 | -0.3 | 0.1 | -0.2 |
| memorandum item: | ||||
| GDP per person in employment | 0.2 | -0.3 | 0.2 | -0.2 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment 3 | 0.1 | -0.6 | -0.1 | -0.5 |
| 2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | |
| qtr = quarter | ||||
| Unadjusted figures Change on the previous year | ||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.4 | -1.0 |
| Industry, excluding construction | -2.4 | -0.4 | -1.1 | -7.0 |
| including: | ||||
| Manufacturing | -4.3 | -1.7 | -2.0 | -3.5 |
| Construction | -3.6 | -3.5 | -3.9 | -3.9 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | -0.2 |
| Information and communication | 2.7 | 3.3 | 2.4 | 1.9 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 0.2 | 0.2 | -0.6 | -2.5 |
| Real estate activities | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.6 | -0.3 |
| Business services | 0.7 | 0.9 | -0.1 | -1.1 |
| Public services, education, health | 1.0 | 1.4 | 2.3 | 2.5 |
| Other services | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.3 |
| Gross value added, total | -0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | -1.6 |
| Seasonally and calendar adjusted figures change on the previous quarter | ||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | -1.2 | 0.4 | 0.7 | -1.0 |
| Industry, excluding construction | -3.4 | -0.5 | -1.8 | -1.1 |
| including: | ||||
| Manufacturing | -0.1 | -0.7 | -1.4 | -0.6 |
| Construction | 2.3 | -3.2 | -1.3 | -0.9 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 0.5 | -0.8 | -0.1 | 0.5 |
| Information and communication | 2.1 | -0.1 | -0.4 | 0.4 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 1.1 | -0.4 | -1.0 | -2.1 |
| Real estate activities | 0.6 | 0.2 | -0.6 | -0.5 |
| Business services | -0.3 | 0.2 | -0.6 | -0.3 |
| Public services, education, health | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.3 |
| Other services | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | -0.3 |
| Gross value added, total | -0.4 | -0.3 | -0.4 | -0.3 |
