Flash estimate for the second quarter of 2011 showed an increase of Gross Domestic Product both in the Euro are and the European Union as a whole of 0.2% and 1.6% respectively, compared with the second quarter of 2010. In the first quarter of 2011, growth rates were +0.8% in the euro area and +0.7% in the EU.
 

The flash estimation released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, shows that compared with the second quarter of 2010, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 1.6% in the euro area and by 1.7% in the EU, after +2.4% in both zones in the previous quarter. During the second quarter of 2011, household final consumption expenditure decreased by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.1% in the EU (after +0.2% and 0.0% respectively in the previous quarter). Gross fixed capital formation increased by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU (after +1.8% and +1.2%). Exports grew by 1.0% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU (after +2.0% and +2.2%). Imports rose by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU (after +1.5% and +1.4%).

With regard to other GDP data in the world, US GDP increased while Japanese GDP decreased. In the United States GDP increased by 0.2% during the second quarter of 2011, after +0.1% in the first quarter of 2011. In Japan GDP fell by 0.3% in the second quarter of 2011, after -0.9% in the previous quarter.

These data are seasonally adjusted (and in most cases also corrected for working days) according to national adjustment procedures. Seasonally adjusted European aggregates are calculated from seasonally adjusted Member States’ data (indirect seasonal adjustment). The published GDP growth rates for the second quarter of 2011 compared with the previous quarter which had been estimated at +0.2% for both the euro area and the EU remain unchanged. Compared with the second quarter of 2010, GDP growth that had been estimated at +1.7% for both the euro area and the EU is revised down to +1.6% for the euro area and remains unchanged for the EU.