According to a study released on Sunday by the German Institute for Economic Research (IW), Germany’s economy has suffered a total value‑creation loss of about €940 billion since the crises began in 2020. The combined impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic, the energy shock triggered by the Ukraine war, and U.S. protectionist measures under President Donald Trump has erased more than €20,000 per employed person-roughly one‑fifth of the average annual output generated by an employee. Nearly a quarter of the overall loss can be traced back to the year 2025 alone.
In the first year of the pandemic, 2020, the study found a value‑creation loss of roughly €185 billion. By the time Russia launched its full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, pandemic‑related deficits had accumulated to almost €300 billion.
From 2022 onward, the economic consequences of the Ukraine war began to dominate over the lingering effects of the pandemic. Rising energy prices and sustained geopolitical uncertainty visibly slowed the business cycle. Losses in 2022 were about €85 billion, followed by roughly €140 billion and €200 billion in the two subsequent years.
Germany had not yet fully recovered from the first two crises when Donald Trump was elected U.S. President in late 2024. Shortly after taking office, he imposed tariffs and threatened trade actions. The resulting value‑creation loss in 2025 topped the entire crisis period, clocking in at an additional €235 billion.