In the third quarter of 2022, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 0.3% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU, compared with the previous quarter, according to an estimate published by Eurostat. In the second quarter of 2022, GDP had grown by 0.8% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU.

By comparison, GDP in the United States increased by 0.7% compared to the previous quarter (after -0.1% in the second quarter of 2022). Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP increased by 1.9% (after +1.8% in the previous quarter).

GDP growth by Member State
Ireland (+2.3%) recorded the highest increase of GDP compared to the previous quarter, followed by Cyprus, Malta and Romania (all three +1.3%) while the highest decreases were observed in Estonia (-1.8%), Latvia (-1.7%) and Slovenia (-1.4%).

Source: Eurostat

GDP components and contributions to growth
Household final consumption expenditure increased by 0.9% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU (after +1.0% in the euro area and +0.9% in the EU in the previous quarter).

Government final consumption expenditure increased by 0.1% in both the euro area and the EU (after -0.1% in both in the previous quarter) and gross fixed capital formation increased by 3.6% in the euro area and by 3.2% in the EU (after +0.9% and +1.1% respectively).

Exports increased by 1.7% in the euro area and by 1.9% in the EU (after +1.7% and +1.8%). Imports increased by 4.3% in the euro area and by 4.0% in the EU (after +2.2% and +2.0%).

Household final consumption expenditure had positive contributions to GDP growth in both the euro area and the EU (+0.4 percentage points – pp in both zones). The contributions from government final expenditure was negligible for both zones and those of gross fixed capital formation were positive for the euro area (+0.8 pp) and for the EU (+0.7 pp).

The contributions from the external balance were negative (-1.1 pp for the euro area and -0.9 pp for the EU). The contributions from changes in inventories were positive for both the euro area and the EU (+0.2 pp for both).

GDP levels in the euro area and EU
Based on seasonally adjusted figures, GDP volumes in the euro area and EU were 2.2% and 2.8% respectively above the level recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak. For the United States, GDP was 4.3% higher than the level of the fourth quarter of 2019.