The national accounts describe in a quantitative manner the economic situation of a country within a given period of time. An important criterion which sets calculations in the national accounts apart is that they refer to the population residing in a region (residence concept) or to the economically active persons within a region (domestic concept). In addition to measuring domestic product, from which gross domestic product (GDP) emerges as the key element of the national accounts, the national accounts include employment accounts, the labour volume calculations, the input-output framework and the wealth accounts – in other words, they present flows and stocks. 

In the national accounts, economic units are broken down by type of economic activity into institutional sectors (e.g. financial and non-financial corporations, government, households). Furthermore, numerous variables are subdivided by economic sector: here, economic entities are differentiated by the type of goods (goods and services) which are primarily produced.  

The results form an important basis for macroeconomic analyses and forecasts as well as for political, management-related and economic decision-making.

A harmonised calculation according to the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) is carried out for all EU Member States. ESA 2010, which entered into force in 2014, enables the comparability of economic developments between member countries. For all EU Member States, price-adjusted data are measured as average prices for the previous year and are presented as Laspeyres-type chain indices with the reference year 2015=100. The percentage changes in the real GDP calculated in this manner serve as key indicators of economic growth in the EU.

You will find extensive data on the national accounts for Germany in the tables and the time series database. Seasonally and calendar-adjusted time series as well as just calendar-adjusted time series – depending on the indicator – are provided in addition to the unadjusted figures. Real-time data are also available for selected indicators.

This range of data is supplemented by tables and time series for euro area countries and the euro area as a whole as well as data on the real GDP of selected advanced and emerging market economies (see table for download „The global economic environment at a glance“).