Eurozone economies contracted by 0.6 per cent in 2012 with GDP shrinking by the same proportion compared with the previous quarter, Eurostat figures show.
The contraction meant GDP across the eurozone at the end of last year was, on average, 0.9 per cent below that of end 2011.
Economies across all 27 EU member States shrank by 0.5 per cent in the final three months of last year, a 0.6 per cent drop when compared with the same period in 2011.