Comparison of changes in volume of GDP in EU member states, Q1 2025

Released: 7 April 2025

The economic performance of the European Union increased by 1.4% – according to seasonally and calendar adjusted data available from a preliminary Eurostat flash estimate – in the 1st quarter of 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year. Eurostat published the data for 14 member states on 30 April 2025, out of which the volume of GDP grew in 11 and lessened in three (Germany, Hungary and Austria) countries. The largest growth (of 11%) occurred in Ireland, where large multinational enterprises registered there sometimes cause outlying changes in GDP. Ireland was followed by Lithuania and Spain in the rankings, with growths of 3.2% and 2.8%, respectively. The performance of Hungary’s economy lessened by 0.4% according to the seasonally and calendar adjusted datum and stagnated according to the raw (unadjusted) datum compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Industry and construction went on slowing the economic performance, however, services as a whole positively affected the volume of GDP.

Compared to the previous quarter, the volume of the EU’s GDP was up by 0.3% and that of Hungary’s lessened by 0.2%. In this respect, there was a decrease merely in Hungary out of the member states providing data.

Hungary’s government counted on a 2.5% economic increase for 2025 on planning the budget for the next year. In its forecast published in November 2024, the European Commission predicted a GDP growth of 1.8% for Hungary and of 1.5% for the EU as a whole.