German GDP Grows 0.2 Percent While 2024 Contraction Is Revised to Zero
German gross domestic product increased 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2026 from the previous quarter after adjustment for prices, seasonal patterns and calendar effects, the Federal Statistical Office said on 30 July.
Against the second quarter of 2025, GDP was 0.9 percent higher on both a price-adjusted and a price-and-calendar-adjusted basis, the two coinciding because the quarter contained the same number of working days as a year earlier.
The quarterly expansion was modest. The revisions published alongside it were not: the first quarter was revised up to 0.4 percent from 0.3 percent, and the 0.5 percent contraction previously reported for 2024 was revised away entirely, leaving the economy flat that year.
The revisions remove a year of contraction without removing the stagnation
Destatis conducts its summer revision of the previous four years at this point each year. This time it also revised the whole series back to 2011.
| Year | Previous estimate | Revised estimate |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | +1.8 | +1.9 |
| 2023 | −0.9 | −1.0 |
| 2024 | −0.5 | 0.0 |
| 2025 | +0.2 | +0.2 |
Price-adjusted annual change, unadjusted basis. Source: Destatis.
Destatis attributed the large 2024 revision in particular to new structural business statistics, which become available only 18 months after the end of the reporting year and provide detailed data on turnover, investment and, above all, the cost structure of businesses.
The revision back to 2011 was driven by two further sources: average rents for rented dwellings recalculated from the 2022 Census of Buildings and Housing, and more complete capture of direct purchases made abroad by German households. Annual growth rates for 2011 to 2021 are up to 0.1 percentage point higher than previously reported, and cumulative growth over that decade is 0.8 percentage points higher.
Germany therefore no longer records two consecutive annual contractions in 2023 and 2024. The picture is not transformed into a recovery: output fell 1.0 percent in 2023, stagnated in 2024 and grew 0.2 percent in 2025.
Four consecutive quarters without a contraction
| Measure | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter on quarter | 0.0 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.2 |
| Year on year, calendar adjusted | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.7 | +0.9 |
Price, seasonally and calendar adjusted. Source: Destatis.
The sequence indicates Germany has moved out of contraction, though quarterly momentum halved from 0.4 percent in the first quarter to 0.2 percent in the second. The improving annual rate partly reflects a weak comparison base in 2025.
Exports rose while capital formation fell
Destatis said exports were up on the previous quarter, final consumption expenditure showed a subdued trend and capital formation declined.
The flash estimate carries no numerical component growth rates. The detailed expenditure and production accounts are scheduled for 25 August, so the relative contributions of net trade, household demand, government spending and investment cannot yet be quantified.
Import costs remained a headwind
German import prices were 6.1 percent higher in June than a year earlier, though they fell 0.7 percent from May. Energy import prices rose 23.9 percent year on year, including 70.8 percent for electricity, 36.0 percent for mineral oil products and 32.1 percent for crude oil. Imported intermediate goods rose 10.3 percent.
Export prices rose 3.5 percent, leaving import-price inflation 2.6 percentage points above export-price inflation and pointing to continued year-on-year pressure on Germany’s terms of trade. The monthly picture was easier, with falling crude and refined-product prices pulling the overall import-price index down from May.
Germany trailed the euro area on the quarter after leading it on the year
Germany’s quarterly rate of 0.2 percent was half the euro-area rate of 0.4 percent and below the EU rate of 0.5 percent.
On the annual comparison the position reversed. Germany grew 0.7 percent year on year in the first quarter against 0.5 percent for the euro area, a lead of 0.2 percentage points. In the second quarter Germany’s 0.9 percent fell just short of the euro area’s 1.0 percent. The second quarter was therefore not the first narrowing of a gap but the point at which a small German lead on the annual measure turned into a small deficit.
Among the 15 countries for which Eurostat published figures, Germany ranked joint eleventh on quarterly growth alongside France and Italy, ahead only of Belgium and Austria. Spain grew 0.7 percent in the quarter and 2.7 percent over the year.
Why it matters
Germany is the euro area’s largest economy and a major supplier of machinery, vehicles and capital equipment to Gulf industrial and infrastructure projects.
The second-quarter result suggests the economy has stopped shrinking rather than that it has entered a strong expansion. Exports improved while capital formation declined, and quarterly momentum slowed even as the annual comparison strengthened.
The 2024 revision changes how the downturn is described, which matters for the historical record and for any analysis that treated 2023 and 2024 as a back-to-back recession. It should not be read as automatically improving fiscal ratios: Destatis revised price-adjusted GDP and the underlying national accounts, and the effect on any debt, deficit or spending ratio depends on the separately revised nominal denominator, which cannot be inferred from a real-growth revision.
What to watch
Destatis publishes detailed second-quarter national accounts on 25 August, together with fuller information on both revisions. The release will show whether export growth was enough to offset falling investment and subdued consumption, and whether the improvement was concentrated in particular industrial sectors.
Sources
Destatis, press release No. 269, 30 July 2026, and No. 268 on import prices, 29 July 2026. Eurostat, euro indicators 2-30072026-AP, 30 July 2026.
