Eurostat launches early Gross Domestic Product flash estimates

This means that both the European and United States' GDP growth rates will now be released at around the same date, which simplifies access to high quality data for people interested in world-wide macro-economic statistics. Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, commented: "'Jobs, growth and investment' is the first priority of this Commission. Gross Domestic Product, GDP, is one of the most important indicators to measure how well our economy is performing. And as the European Union is one of the biggest economies in the world, changes in European GDP are followed closely. Key users, like the European Commission and the European Central Bank, but also national policy makers, business and market analysts and media, will all benefit from the earlier availability of these figures."

The existing release at 45 days after the end of the quarter will continue to be published as at present, containing in addition to the EU and euro area figures, data for all available Member States. Commissioner Thyssen's video message can be watched here, and a short introductory video to this new release can be found here.