What is GDP?

Gross domestic product, GDP, is defined as the value of all goods and services produced in the country. GDP is used as a measure of economic growth and is published quarterly.

The upturn in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the previous quarter largely came from rising exports of goods, in seasonally adjusted figures. This upswing means that the Swedish economy has recovered roughly half of the sharp contraction in the second quarter. The flash estimate only presents overall GDP growth and any information on the development of individual components should be interpreted with caution.

To arrive at a final reconciled GDP estimate, the two calculations from the production and expenditure approaches are balanced. As in the full quarterly national accounts, reconciliation is calculated by taking the average of the two approaches. Before balancing, actual GDP growth from the expenditure approach was -4.3 percent, while the corresponding figure on the production approach was -2.7 percent, compared with the same quarter a year ago. As a result, final actual GDP growth was -3.5 percent.

Additional information

The GDP indicator is an early compilation of the quarterly national accounts based on limited and preliminary statistics. For more information on the indicator, see Compilation of the Swedish GDP indicator.

Statistical Database

More information is available in the Statistical Database.

Complete quarterly national accounts for the third quarter of 2020 is scheduled for publication on 2020-11-27 at 9.30.

The next GDP indicator is scheduled for publication on 2021-02-01 at 9.30.