Eurozone GDP (gross domestic product) was confirmed today as having increased by 0.4% and by 0.3% in the EU27 during the third quarter of 2009, compared with the previous quarter, according to the latest estimates issued by Eurostat, the EU statistics office. Meanwhile, Eurostat reported that the volume of retail trade remained stable in the Eurozone and rose by 0.3% in the EU27 in October.

In the second quarter of 2009, growth rates were -0.2% in the Eurozone and -0.3% in the EU27.

Compared with the third quarter of 2008, seasonally adjusted GDP declined by 4.1% in the Eurozone and by 4.3% in the EU27, after -4.8% and -5.0% respectively for the previous quarter.

Variation in components of GDP

During the third quarter of 2009, household final consumption expenditure decreased by 0.2% in both the Eurozone and the EU27 (after 0.0% and -0.1% respectively in the previous quarter). Investments fell by 0.4% in the Eurozone and by 0.5% in the EU27 (after -1.7% and -2.5%). Exports increased by 2.9% in the Eurozone and by 2.4% in the EU27 (after -1.3% and -1.4%). Imports increased by 2.6% in the Eurozone and by 2.4% in the EU27 (after -2.9% in both zones).

There was no data for Ireland.

US and Japanese GDP increased

In the United States GDP increased by 0.7% during the third quarter of 2009, after -0.2% in the second quarter of 2009. In Japan GDP increased by 1.2% in the third quarter of 2009, after +0.7% in the previous quarter. Compared with the third quarter of 2008, GDP declined by 2.5% in the United States (after -3.8% in the previous quarter) and by 4.4% in Japan (after -7.1%).

Tables of country performance

Retail sales

In the month of October 2009, the volume of retail trade remained stable in the Eurozone and rose by 0.3% in the EU27. In September retail trade fell by 0.5% and 0.3% respectively.

In the 12 months to October 2009, the retail sales index decreased by 1.9% in the Eurozone and by 0.9% in the EU27.

Monthly changes

In October 2009, “Food, drinks and tobacco” declined by 0.3% in the Eurozone and remained stable in the EU27. The non food sector grew by 0.3% and 0.7% respectively.

Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade rose in eleven and fell in six. The highest increases were observed in Lithuania (+1.9%), Portugal (+1.7%) and Poland (+1.6%), and the largest decreases in Romania (-1.9%), Slovakia (-1.7%) and Latvia (-1.3%).

There was no data for Ireland.

Annual changes

In the 12 months to October 2009, “Food, drinks and tobacco” fell by 1.6% in the Eurozone and by 0.8% in the EU27. The non food sector decreased by 1.3% in the Eurozone, but rose by 0.1% in the EU27.

Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade rose in five and fell in twelve. The highest increases were observed in Belgium (+4.4%), Sweden (+4.1%) and Poland (+3.9%), and the largest decreases in Latvia (-29.1%), Lithuania (-24.7%) and Estonia (-18.6%).

Tables

The Eurozone (EA16) includes Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).