The European Union’s gross domestic product held steady in the fourth quarter, unchanged from the previous third quarter, while the eurozone economy grew by 0.1 percent over the same period, according to the latest seasonally adjusted data from the European statistics agency Eurostat. , published today.
In the third quarter of 2022, the economies of both the EU and the euro area grew by 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter.
Initial estimates of annual economic growth for the whole of 2022, based on seasonally and calendar-adjusted quarterly data, show that EU GDP expanded by 3.6 percent and in the euro area by 3.5 percent.
In the fourth quarter, on an annual basis, the EU economy grew by 1.8 percent and the euro area economy by 1.9 percent. Thus, the annual rate of growth of the economies of both communities is slowing down compared to the third quarter, when it recorded growth of 2.5 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.
Among the member states for which data is available, in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the third quarter, the largest increase in their economy was registered by Ireland (+3.5 percent), Latvia (+0.3 percent), and Spain and Portugal (+0.2 percent for each). Contrary to them, the biggest decline was reported in Lithuania (-1.7 percent), Austria (-0.7 percent), and Sweden (-0.6 percent).
In October-December 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, among the countries for which there are data, the largest economic expansion was recorded by Ireland (+15.7 percent), followed by Portugal (+3.1 percent) and Austria and Spain (+2.7 percent for each). At the other end of the scale, the only EU countries to record an annual decline in their economies were Sweden (-0.6 percent) and Lithuania (-0.4 percent).
