TOKYO, March 12 (Reuters) - Japan's economy shrank 3.2 percent in the final three months of last year, revised government data showed on Thursday, confirming the sharpest contraction since the oil crisis in 1974.
The fall in gross domestic product (GDP) for the October-December quarter in real, price-adjusted terms was slightly smaller than economists' forecasts for a 3.3 percent contraction, which was the same as the initial estimate.
The revised figure translates into an annualised contraction of 12.1 percent, against the previous reading of a 12.7 percent contraction, the same size fall forecast by economists.
While the global financial crisis has dragged much of the rich world into recession, the contraction in Japan, the world's No.2 economy, is about twice as deep as elsewhere due to its dependence on exports.
The euro zone economy shrank 1.5 percent in the same period while the United States contracted an annualised 6.2 percent.
Japan's economic slump is its deepest in the modern era and economists see it also becoming the longest, with dwindling export demand prompting firms to slash payrolls and freeze wages.
A Reuters poll of 25 economists showed the economy is expected to shrink 2.5 percent in three months to March and 0.4 percent in the following quarter, which would mark an unprecedented five straight quarters of contraction. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto)