Japan's GDP falls behind Germany's to 4th in world

Japan's economy shrank an annualized rate of 0.4 percent in the October-December period last year, government data showed on Thursday.

According to the Cabinet Office, this marked a contraction for the second quarter after a 2.1-percent decrease registered in the third quarter of 2023.

Real gross domestic product (GDP), the total value of goods and services produced, shrank 0.1 percent from the previous quarter, the government's preliminary figures showed.

Japan's nominal GDP in 2023, unadjusted for inflation, stood at 591.48 trillion yen (4.21 trillion US dollars).

The figure showed that Japan lost its status as the world's third-largest economy to Germany, which was about 4.46 trillion dollars in size, the national news agency Kyodo reported.