Press release No. 432 of 30 October 2020
Gross domestic product (GDP), 3rd quarter of 2020
+8.2% on the previous quarter (price-, seasonally and calendar-adjusted)
-4.1% on the same quarter a year earlier (price-adjusted)
-4.3% on the same quarter a year earlier (price- and calendar-adjusted)
WIESBADEN – The gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 8.2% in the third quarter of 2020 on the second quarter of 2020 after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. Growth was based on higher final consumption expenditure of households, higher capital formation in machinery and equipment and a sharp increase in exports. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the German economy thus grew markedly after the historic slump of the gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2020 due to the beginning corona pandemic. However, when compared with the fourth quarter of 2019 - the quarter before the global corona pandemic -, the price-, seasonally and calendar-adjusted GDP was by 4.2% lower in the third quarter of 2020.
Gross domestic product markedly down year on year
GDP in the third quarter of 2020 was down a price-ajusted 4.1% on the third quarter of 2019 (price- and calendar-adjusted: -4.3%).
Revision of previous results
In addition to calculating first data for the third quarter of 2020, the Federal Statistical Office reviewed the results published earlier and included new statistical information in the calculations for the first and second quarter of 2020, as usual. This resulted in just slight changes (0.1 percentage points) of the GDP data published previously. 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 third quarter of 2020 will be released by the Federal Statistical Office on 24 November 2020.
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, which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic since early April.
| 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 | ||||||||
| 2019 | 3,449.05 | 2.8 | 106.81 | 0.6 | 106.99 | 0.6 | 0.6 | |
| 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 | 851.81 | 0.7 | 104.56 | -1.7 | 104.97 | -1.9 | -2.1 |
| 2nd qtr | 768.77 | -9.2 | 93.47 | -11.3 | 94.69 | -9.8 | -11.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 843.37 | -3.1 | 103.28 | -4.1 | 102.49 | 8.2 | -4.3 | |
| 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 | -1,9 | -1,7 | -2,0 | -1,8 | 0,1 | 0,1 |
| 2nd qtr | -9,8 | -11,3 | -9,7 | -11,3 | -0,1 | 0,0 | |
| 3rd qtr | 8,2 | -4,1 | x | x | x | x | |
