According to the report from Eurostat, in the first quarter 2021, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU, compared with the previous quarter. Economists had expected a 0.8% decrease in the euro area. These declines follow falls in the fourth quarter of 2020 (-0.7% in the euro area and -0.5% in the EU) after a strong rebound in the third quarter of 2020 (+12.5% in the euro area and +11.7% in the EU) and the sharpest decreases since the time series started in 1995 observed in the second quarter of 2020 (-11.6% in the euro area and -11.2% in the EU).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 1.8% in the euro area and by 1.7% in the EU in the first quarter of 2021, after -4.9% in the euro area and -4.6% in the EU in the previous quarter.

Among the Member States for which data are available for the first quarter 2021, Portugal (-3.3%) recorded the highest decrease compared to the previous quarter, followed by Latvia (-2.6%) and Germany (-1.7%), while Lithuania (+1.8%) and Sweden (+1.1%) recorded the highest increases. The year on year growth rates were negative for all countries except for France (+1.5%) and Lithuania (+1.0%).