(COPENHAGEN) - Denmark has fallen into recession, the first European Union country to do so in the aftermath of the US subprime crisis, after its economy contracted in the first quarter, official figures showed Tuesday.

The official statistics office said the Danish economy contracted 0.6 percent compared with the three months to December, when it saw negative growth of 0.2 percent.

A recession is defined technically as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The statistics office said household consumption fell 1.1 percent in the first quarter, led by a 4.4 percent drop in new car sales.

Denmark is a member of the European Union but has not adopted the single european currency, the euro.

It is one of the 30 countries in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, which groups the world's richest economies.

Global growth has been steadily slowing since the collapse of the US subprime or higher-risk home loan market last year sparked a credit crunch that has seen business starved of funding as banks refuse to lend.

At the same time, record high oil and other commodity prices have stoked costs and inflation, undercutting corporate profits and investment.

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