According to the flash estimates released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the
European Union, during the first quarter of this year gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.4 percent in both the euro area and the EU-28 compared to the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2014, GDP had increased by 0.3 percent in the euro area and by 0.4 percent in the EU-28, on quarter-on-quarter basis.
Compared with the same quarter of 2014, in the first quarter this year seasonally adjusted GDP increased by one percent in the euro area and rose by 1.4 percent in the EU-28, after respectively increasing by 0.9 percent and 1.3 percent year on year in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter this year GDP in the United States increased by 0.1 percent quarter on quarter and rose by three percent year on year.