Germany 10-Year Bund Yield: History Since 1956

The 10-year German Bund yield is the euro area’s risk-free benchmark, the reference against which every other euro-area bond is measured. This dataset tracks the OECD benchmark 10-year government bond yield for Germany, in percent per year, distributed via FRED under the code IRLTLT01DEM156N, with monthly coverage since 1956.

Dataset: Germany 10-Year Bund Yield (1956–2026) · Updated 2026-04-01

Source: OECD Main Economic Indicators · long-term interest rates (via FRED)

Macro Takeaway

Dataset Overview

Dataset Variables

The CSV and Excel files contain the following columns. Each row represents one month.

Column names match the CSV headers exactly.

Download the Complete Dataset

The full dataset is available in CSV and Excel formats — monthly observations spanning 1956–2026.

FRED Direct CSV Access

The underlying data is published in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database under the series code IRLTLT01DEM156N, sourced from the OECD’s long-term interest rate statistics:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=IRLTLT01DEM156N

The Eco3min dataset mirrors the same monthly series, packaged in a stable, versionable CSV with consistent column names — designed for direct ingestion in Python, R, or any data pipeline. The URL never changes, making it suitable for automated scripts.

Direct CSV Access — Eco3min Structured Dataset

https://eco3min.fr/dataset/germany-10y-government-bond-yield-fred.csv

This URL returns the complete dataset in CSV format. It can be used directly in pandas, R, curl, or any data tool.

Using the Dataset in Python

import pandas as pd

url = "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/germany-10y-government-bond-yield-fred.csv"
df = pd.read_csv(url, parse_dates=["date"])

print(df.head())
print(df["bund_10y"].describe())

df.plot(x="date", y="bund_10y", title="German 10-year Bund yield", legend=False)

Using the Dataset in R

library(readr)

url <- "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/germany-10y-government-bond-yield-fred.csv"
df <- read_csv(url)

head(df)
summary(df$bund_10y)

Both examples load the dataset directly from the URL — no download or API key required.

Methodology

This is the OECD harmonised long-term interest rate for Germany, the yield on benchmark 10-year Bunds.

The figure is the yield to maturity on a benchmark 10-year government bond, expressed in percent per year, reported monthly. The series begins in 1956.

This dataset is updated via an automated pull from the FRED API (series IRLTLT01DEM156N) by an Eco3min pipeline running on GitHub Actions, which regenerates the cleaned CSV and Excel files and refreshes the page metadata.

Data Quality & Provider Notes

The OECD long-term interest rate series are a standard cross-country reference for 10-year government bond yields. A few points matter when using this series.

• Benchmark, not a single bond. The yield refers to a representative 10-year maturity, not one fixed bond, so the underlying security rolls over time.
• Monthly average. This is a monthly figure and will differ from any single day’s closing yield; intra-month extremes are smoothed.
• Yield, not total return. The series is a yield level. It is not the total return an investor earned, which also depends on price changes and coupons.
• Cross-country comparability. The OECD harmonises definitions, but national market conventions still differ slightly between countries.

Common Pitfalls When Using This Series

1. Confusing yield with price. A bond yield moves inversely to its price: when the yield rises, the price of existing bonds falls, and vice versa. A rising line here means bonds got cheaper, not more expensive.
2. Confusing a market yield with a policy rate. This is a market-determined bond yield, not the central bank’s policy rate. The two can move in opposite directions when markets price in future policy.
3. Confusing nominal and real yields. This series is a nominal yield. Subtracting expected inflation gives the real yield, which is what matters for valuation.

Historical Regimes

1956–1981 — Postwar and inflation. Yields rose into the early 1980s as inflation built across the developed world.

1982–2008 — Disinflation. Yields fell steadily as the Bundesbank anchored low inflation; the euro launched in 1999.

2009–2014 — Crisis safe haven. The Bund became the euro area’s safe asset during the sovereign-debt crisis; yields fell sharply.

2015–2022 — Negative yields. ECB quantitative easing and negative rates pushed the 10-year Bund below zero for long stretches between 2019 and 2022.

2022–2026 — Normalisation. ECB rate hikes ended the negative-yield era; the Bund returned to roughly 2-3%.

Related Macroeconomic Datasets

Developed Markets (ex-US) Hub

This dataset is part of the Eco3min repository of exchange rates, government bond yields, and policy rates for the major developed economies outside the United States, all sourced from the OECD and national authorities via FRED.

Explore the Developed Markets (ex-US) Hub

Sources

• OECD — Main Economic Indicators, long-term interest rates (Germany 10-Year Bund Yield)
• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — FRED database, series IRLTLT01DEM156N
• OECD long-term interest rates, Germany — basis underlying the FRED series

Dataset Reference

Eco3min Research. (2026). Germany 10-Year Bund Yield — Monthly (1956-2026). Source: OECD long-term interest rates via FRED.<br> https://eco3min.fr/en/germany-10y-bund-yield-history-dataset/