Press release No. 304 of 14 August 2019

Gross domestic product(GDP), 2^nd quarter of 2019
-0.1% on the previous quarter (in real terms, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
0.0% on the same quarter a year earlier (in real terms)
+0.4% on the same quarter a year earlier (in real terms and calendar adjusted)

WIESBADEN - In the second quarter of 2019, the real (price-adjusted) gross domestic product in Germany decreased by 0.1% on the first quarter of 2019, after adjustment for seasonal and calendar variations. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that Germany experienced a slight decline in economic performance. The first quarter of 2019 showed an increase of 0.4% compared with the fourth quarter of 2018.

Consumption expenditure and capital formation stabilize economic activity, while foreign trade slows down growth

The quarter-on-quarter comparison (in real terms and adjusted for seasonal and calendar variations) shows that positive contributions came from domestic demand, according to provisional calculations. Compared with the first quarter, household final consumption expenditure increased, together with government final consumption expenditure. In addition, more was invested than in the first quarter, however, gross fixed capital formation in construction declined. The development of foreign trade slowed down economic growth because exports recorded a stronger quarter-on-quarter decrease than imports.

Compared with the previous year, real GDP stagnated. After calendar adjustment, GDP was up by 0.4% because the second quarter of 2019 had one working day less than the same quarter a year earlier. In the first quarter of 2019, real GDP was 0.8% (calendar adjusted: 0.9%) higher than in the same quarter of the preceding year.

The economic performance in the second quarter of 2019 was achieved by 45.2 million persons in employment, which was an increase of 435,000, or 1.0%, on a year earlier.

Information on the major revision of national accounts
In addition to the calculation of first data for the second quarter of 2019, all national accounts calculations have been thoroughly reviewed and revised as of this date as part of the 2019 major revision. The reference year was changed to 2015. To avoid breaks in the time series, the results for Germany were recalculated back to 1991 so that modified results may appear in the whole time series from 1991 onwards. As regards total real GDP, the recalculation resulted in new change rates which are up to 0.3 percentage points (years) or 0.6 percentage points (quarters) higher or lower than the results published previously. The revision, however, did not change the overall economic picture (see table "Comparison between previous and new figures: real gross domestic product" at the end of this press release. As every year in August, new statistical information was incorporated in the calculations of results for the last four years (from 2015) and for the first quarter of 2019.

Real gross domestic product

		Unadjusted figures		Figures according to X13
				Seasonally and calendar-adjusted		Calendar-adjusted 1		Calendar-effect
		2015 = 100	% 2	2015 = 100	% 3	2015 = 100	%2	%2
1 For years the calendar-adjusted values are identical with the seasonally and calendar-adjusted values (except for differences due to rounding). 2 Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. 3 Change on the previous year or previous quarter in %. qtr = quarter
2015		100.00	1.7	99.90	1.5	99.90	1.5	0.2
2016		102.23	2.2	102.04	2.1	102.04	2.1	0.1
2017		104.75	2.5	104.87	2.8	104.87	2.8	-0.3
2018		106.35	1.5	106.49	1.5	106.49	1.5	0.0
2015	1st qtr	98.03	1.3	99.10	-0.2	98.17	1.2	0.1
	2nd qtr	98.51	1.8	99.72	0.6	98.83	1.8	0.0
	3rd qtr	101.06	1.8	100.17	0.5	100.83	1.7	0.1
	4th qtr	102.40	2.1	100.61	0.4	101.77	1.3	0.8
2016	1st qtr	99.97	2.0	101.41	0.8	100.50	2.4	-0.4
	2nd qtr	102.14	3.7	101.99	0.6	101.09	2.3	1.4
	3rd qtr	102.96	1.9	102.20	0.2	102.84	2.0	-0.1
	4th qtr	103.85	1.4	102.57	0.4	103.74	1.9	-0.5
2017	1st qtr	103.58	3.6	103.79	1.2	102.89	2.4	1.2
	2nd qtr	103.17	1.0	104.37	0.6	103.45	2.3	-1.3
	3rd qtr	105.54	2.5	105.27	0.9	105.89	3.0	-0.4
	4th qtr	106.71	2.8	106.04	0.7	107.24	3.4	-0.6
2018	1st qtr	105.28	1.6	106.18	0.1	105.30	2.3	-0.7
	2nd qtr	105.75	2.5	106.59	0.4	105.66	2.1	0.4
	3rd qtr	106.69	1.1	106.48	-0.1	107.09	1.1	0.0
	4th qtr	107.66	0.9	106.70	0.2	107.90	0.6	0.3
2019	1st qtr	106.15	0.8	107.11	0.4	106.27	0.9	-0.1
	2nd qtr	105.78	0.0	107.03	-0.1	106.09	0.4	-0.4

 

Gross domestic product at current prices

		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures according to X13
		EUR billion	Change in %1	EUR billion	Change in %2
1 Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year. 2 Change on the previous year or previous quarter. qtr = quarter
2015		3,030.070	3.5	3,026.986	3.3
2016		3,134.100	3.4	3,128.355	3.3
2017		3,244.990	3.5	3,248.733	3.8
2018		3,344.370	3.1	3,348.879	3.1
2015	1st qtr	738.030	3.0	746.862	0.7
	2nd qtr	743.600	3.7	755.404	1.1
	3rd qtr	766.750	3.5	760.783	0.7
	4th qtr	781.690	3.9	763.937	0.4
2016	1st qtr	762.120	3.3	774.274	1.4
	2nd qtr	779.710	4.9	780.985	0.9
	3rd qtr	789.190	2.9	784.473	0.4
	4th qtr	803.080	2.7	788.623	0.5
2017	1st qtr	793.760	4.2	796.995	1.1
	2nd qtr	796.100	2.1	807.549	1.3
	3rd qtr	818.420	3.7	817.897	1.3
	4th qtr	836.710	4.2	826.292	1.0
2018	1st qtr	819.260	3.2	828.320	0.2
	2nd qtr	827.660	4.0	836.138	0.9
	3rd qtr	836.960	2.3	837.295	0.1
	4th qtr	860.490	2.8	847.126	1.2
2019	1st qtr	842.070	2.8	852.167	0.6
	2nd qtr	844.730	2.1	856.383	0.5

Comparison between previous and new figures:
real gross domestic product

		New result		Previous result
		chain index (2015 = 100)	Change in %1	chain index (2010 = 100)	Change in %1
Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures
1 Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures: Change on the previous year or the previous quarter in %. Unadjusted figures: Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. qtr = quarter
2015		99.90	1.5	108.72	1.5
2016		102.04	2.1	111.06	2.2
2017		104.87	2.8	113.79	2.5
2018		106.49	1.5	115.44	1.5
2015	1st qtr	99.10	-0.2	107.92	– 0.1
	2nd qtr	99.72	0.6	108.55	0.6
	3rd qtr	100.17	0.5	108.90	0.3
	4th qtr	100.61	0.4	109.49	0.5
2016	1st qtr	101.41	0.8	110.49	0.9
	2nd qtr	101.99	0.6	110.98	0.4
	3rd qtr	102.20	0.2	111.17	0.2
	4th qtr	102.57	0.4	111.60	0.4
2017	1st qtr	103.79	1.2	112.84	1.1
	2nd qtr	104.37	0.6	113.46	0.5
	3rd qtr	105.27	0.9	114.12	0.6
	4th qtr	106.04	0.7	114.73	0.5
2018	1st qtr	106.18	0.1	115.16	0.4
	2nd qtr	106.59	0.4	115.68	0.5
	3rd qtr	106.48	-0.1	115.45	– 0.2
	4th qtr	106.70	0.2	115.47	0.0
2019	1st qtr	107.11	0.4	115.96	0.4
	2nd qtr	107.03	-0.1	x	x
Unadjusted figures
2015		100.00	1.7	108.82	1.7
2016		102.23	2.2	111.26	2.2
2017		104.75	2.5	113.66	2.2
2018		106.35	1.5	115.28	1.4
2015	1st qtr	98.03	1.3	107.51	1.3
	2nd qtr	98.51	1.8	107.51	1.8
	3rd qtr	101.06	1.8	110.91	1.8
	4th qtr	102.40	2.1	109.34	2.1
2016	1st qtr	99.97	2.0	109.68	2.0
	2nd qtr	102.14	3.7	111.45	3.7
	3rd qtr	102.96	1.9	113.05	1.9
	4th qtr	103.85	1.4	110.86	1.4
2017	1st qtr	103.58	3.6	113.40	3.4
	2nd qtr	103.17	1.0	112.45	0.9
	3rd qtr	105.54	2.5	115.50	2.2
	4th qtr	106.71	2.8	113.27	2.2
2018	1st qtr	105.28	1.6	114.95	1.4
	2nd qtr	105.75	2.5	115.09	2.3
	3rd qtr	106.69	1.1	116.77	1.1
	4th qtr	107.66	0.9	114.30	0.9
2019	1st qtr	106.15	0.8	115.65	0.6
	2nd qtr	105.78	0.0	x	x

More information on the major revision 2019 and detailed results for the second quarter of 2019 will be published by the Federal Statistical Office in a press release on 27 August 2019. At that time, the results in the interactive national accounts dashboard (only in german) will be updated too.

A long time series with quarterly results on the gross domestic product starting with the first quarter of 1970 is available here.