According to the flash estimates released on February 15 by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, in the fourth quarter of 2011 the gross domestic product (GDP) of the European Union member states (EU-27) fell by 0.3 percent quarter on quarter, though this rate is likely to be revised. In the third quarter of 2011, the quarter-on-quarter growth rate was 0.3 percent.
In comparison with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP in the EU-27 improved in the fourth quarter of 2010 by 0.9 percent, after a year-on-year increase of 1.4 percent in the previous quarter. In the whole of 2011, GDP increased by 1.6 percent year on year in the EU-27.
According to the latest data, in the United States GDP increased by 0.7 percent quarter on quarter during the fourth quarter of 2011, after a 0.5 percent rise in the third quarter of 2011. In Japan, GDP fell by 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 over the third quarter, after a 1.7 percent quarter-on-quarter rise in the third quarter.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP rose by 1.6 percent in the United States in the fourth quarter of last year, after a 1.5 percent increase in the previous quarter, while GDP decreased by one percent in Japan, after a decrease of 0.6 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2011.