The coronavirus variants Delta and Omikron significantly slowed down the economy in Germany at the end of the year.
The economy shrank between October and December by 0.7 percent compared to the previous quarter, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday.
Economists polled by Reuters had only expected a minus of 0.3 percent.
In mid-January, the statisticians had estimated a decline in gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.5 to 1.0 percent in a first rough estimate.
Noticeable revival in spring
Many experts are assuming that the Omicron wave will also weigh on the economy in the current first quarter.
This could lead to a technical recession - i.e. if economic power falls for two quarters in a row.
From the spring, most experts expect a noticeable revival when the virus pandemic is likely to subside.
The federal government expects economic growth of 3.6 percent for this year and a GDP increase of 2.3 percent for 2023.
Last year, the economy grew by a revised 2.8 percent, but was unable to compensate for the 4.6 percent slump from the first year of the Corona crisis in 2020.
France, on the other hand, is growing
The situation is very different in France: Despite the Omicron wave at the end of 2021, the economy there grew surprisingly strongly and for the year as a whole grew more strongly than it had in 52 years.
The economy picked up by 7.0 percent last year - and thus more strongly than since 1969, as the national statistics office Insee announced on Friday.
"The French economy has recovered spectacularly and that has wiped out the economic crisis," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told France 2 TV. "There are still some areas that are struggling, such as tourism and the hotel industry.
But most are recovering very strongly and that creates jobs.”