The euro-area recession deepened more than economists forecast with the worst performance in almost four years as the region's three biggest economies suffered slumping output.

Gross domestic product fell 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That's the most since the first quarter of 2009 in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and exceeded the 0.4 percent median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey.

The data capped a morning of releases showing that the economies of Germany, France and Italy all shrank more than forecast in the fourth quarter. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said last week that confidence in the 17-nation bloc has stabilized and the ECB sees a gradual recovery beginning later this year, though the situation is "fragile."