BRUSSE, Belgium, May 13 (UPI) -- Economies of the European Union rose 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2011, Eurostat said Friday in a preliminary estimate of economic growth.
The EU's statistical office said the 0.8 percent growth rate held consistent in both the 27-member EU and in the 17-member eurozone, the region that shares the euro as currency.
The economies of both the EU and the eurozone rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
Estonia, which joined the eurozone in January this year, posted quarter-to-quarter economic growth of 2.1 percent, ranking second behind Lithuania, where the economy grew 3.5 percent compared from the fourth quarter of 2010. At the lower end of the spectrum, the gross domestic product in Portugal fell 0.7 percent quarter-to-quarter. The second lowest growth rate was posted by Cyprus, which reported its economy was flat.
In seven of the EU's members, there was not enough data to report the economic performance.
In Europe's largest economy, Germany, the GDP grew 1.5 percent in the first quarter from the fourth and 4.8 percent from the first quarter a year earlier. In France, the GDP rose 1 percent quarter-to-quarter and 2.2 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.
