Japan and UK in recession: GDP also falling in Q4 2023

Japan's GDP fell 0.1% in Q4 2023 compared to the previous quarter, putting the country technically into recession, following a 0.8% drop in the previous quarter (revised downwards). The GDP trend for the fourth quarter of 2023 was worse than expectations, which were for growth of 0.2%. For the whole of 2023, GDP rose by 1.9 % compared to 2022.

With the 2023 GDP results, Japan lost its place as the world's third largest economy to Germany, also due to the weakness of the yen. Japan's nominal GDP in 2023 amounts to USD 4.2 trillion, compared to Germany's almost USD 4.5 trillion. However, in real terms, i.e. without the influence of inflation, Japan's GDP accelerated last year (+1.9%, compared to 1% in 2022), while the German economy contracted by 0.3% according to official data published in January.

The UK's GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 fell by 0.3 per cent compared to the previous quarter, when it had fallen by 0.1 per cent. Although the country has also entered a technical recession, with two consecutive quarters of declining GDP, the Office for National Statistics' estimate for 2023 as a whole is 0.1% growth over 2022.