Annual National Accounts: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Gross Domestic Product is the standard measure of the value of final goods and services produced by a country during a period. GDP is the most common used indicator to compare economic performance across countries or relatively to other data. It combines in a single figure all the production (also called output) carried out by all the firms, the non-profit institutions, government bodies and households in a given country during a given period, regardless the type of goods and services produced, provided that the production takes place in the country's economic territory. Though it is a good indicator to capture production, it is not a good measure of societies' well-being.

GDP at market prices can be measured in three different ways:

• As output less intermediate consumption (i.e. value added) plus taxes on products [such as Value Added Tax (VAT)] less subsidies on products;
• As the income earned from production, equal to the sum of: employee compensation; the gross operating surplus of enterprises and government; the gross mixed income of unincorporated enterprises; and net taxes on production and imports (VAT, payroll tax, import duties, etc., less subsidies);
• Or as the expenditure on final goods and services minus imports: final consumption expenditures, gross capital formation, and exports less imports. 
• Annual GDP and components - expenditure approach
• Annual GDP and components - output approach
• Annual GDP and components - income approach

GDP is valued at market prices (as paid on the market by the purchaser) on the whole economy (S1), therefore it includes taxes less subsidies on products (mainly VAT paid by the purchaser). The quality of data and sources on taxes are very good on S1 but their detail across industries and institutional sectors isn't.

Value added is reported at basic prices, i.e. excluding taxes less subsidies on products, so it can be split among industries and institutional sectors.

• Annual value added and its components by economic activity
• Annual simplified non-financial accounts by institutional sector: Revenue | Expenditure | Balancing items
• Value Added, annual growth rate

EU countries usually publish the main aggregates between February and April. More detailed breakdowns are reported in October.  Fixed assets broken down by industry and product type are released after 24 months.

Non-European OECD countries loosely follow this schedule: Japan releases data in February, Canada and New Zealand in March, Colombia, Costa-Rica, Chile and Türkiye in April, Israel and Korea in September, Australia, Mexico and USA in November.

The data are revised on a regular basis, usually two or three times a year. In general, revisions depend on the national statistics institutes’ changes or adjustments. Revisions mainly concern the latest three years and reflect readjustments of previous estimates.

Besides the regular adjustment of data, exceptional revisions can occur, for instance due to changes in methodologies or sources. If this is the case, the OECD incorporates the new data into a blank version to clearly distinguish the new version from the old one. This may also lead to a reduced coverage of the time period until the country is able to submit historic data in accordance with the new methodology.

If countries have recently changed their methodology in compiling certain series but are only able to provide a shorter time length than the one of previous versions, the OECD estimates historical data using so called linkages. This methodology ensures to respond to the demands of users for long and continuous time series and to avoid breaks in the annual accounts database. 

The method used by the OECD to link two time series from two different definitions is the following: for each individual series, the ratio between the new definition data and the old definition data in the first common year is calculated. This ratio is then multiplied by old definition series for the time period that data have not been provided with. The same method is applied to both current and volume estimates data.

The linked data avoid the break that would exist if the two definitions were to be put end to end. These estimated data are presented in the OECD paper publications and electronic releases with an estimation mark attached to each datum estimated. Thus users are well informed that these data have been estimated by the OECD and thus can differ from the data published by a national statistical office. As soon as the OECD receives longer time series from the statistical office, the estimated data are replaced by the actual data.

At current prices, physical quantities are reported at a time in the year, and evaluated by the prices of this particular year.

Across time, GDP value can be affected by quantities and price changes. The drawback of this measure is that it can give the false impression that quantities have changed during the year, while in reality it was due to a change in price (or inflation).

 The constant prices (or volume) estimates on the other hand will give a better idea of the GDP volume (quantity) on the entire period.

Two measures of volume estimates, constant prices and chain linked estimates, are usually used to compare values across countries and over the time.

The constant prices use the price structure of a reference year, so that it eliminates the inflation changes and allows the analyst to concentrate on the volume of production alone. This is why usually volume data are used for comparisons across the years. 

Chain link estimates are more accurate than constant prices because they use the previous year price structure (and thereby being closer to the prices structure of the studied year).  The only problem with chain link estimates is that the additivity is lost and it cannot be conceptually used on transactions presenting positive and negative data (such as stocks data). The chain link estimates was recommended by  the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008).

In the database, the volume measure depends on the country's submission to the OECD. All OECD member countries present chained link estimates with the exception of Mexico which releases constant prices. A country note gives details about the method, reference year etc. of the particular country, and is accessible by clicking on the next to the country’s name.

Each country has its own national reference year. It varies from one country to the other. By selecting the measure "L", users receive the national reference year. To ascertain comparability, the measure "LR" displays all data at the same OECD reference year, which is currently 2015.

Referring to "Real GDP" growth is a misuse of language: when referring to "real" indicator/growth, one usually talks about income-related indicators, for which the volume (physical quantities and prices) does not make any sense. In this case another deflator than the one of the GDP  can be used, for instance the deflator of  domestic demand or final consumption demand. 

The most important is the distinction between current and constant measures. This distinction is made by referring to real or chain linked estimates.

National data are expressed in Euros for all member countries of the European Monetary Union (EMU).

Data relating to years prior to entry into the EMU have been converted from the former national currency using the appropriate irrevocable conversion rate, defining the euro on 1st January 1999 (2001 for Greece, 2009 for Slovak Republic etc…). The irrevocable conversion rates can be found on the European Central Bank website. 

The method facilitates comparisons within a country over time and ensures that the historical evolution (i.e. growth rates) is preserved. However, pre-EMU euros are a notional unit and are not normally suitable to form area aggregates or to carry out cross-country comparisons.

General government constitutes a very important institutional sector including central government, local authorities and the social security funds.

General government net lending/borrowing reflects the fiscal position after accounting for capital expenditures. Net lending (or surplus) means that government is providing financial resources to other sectors and net borrowing (or deficit) means that government requires financial resources from other sector.Deficit (/surplus) corresponds to flows data.

• Annual government non-financial accounts and key indicators: Revenue | Expenditure | Balancing items
• General government net lending/borrowing as a percentage of GDP

General government debt: represents the amount of debt on the balance sheets of general government, which is stock data. Debt is a commonly used concept, defined as a specific subset of liabilities identified according to the types of financial instruments included or excluded. Generally, debt is defined as all liabilities that require payment or payments of interest or principal by the debtor to the creditor at a date or dates in the future. Consequently, all debt instruments are liabilities, but some liabilities such as shares, equity and financial derivatives are not debt [System of National Accounts, 2008, par. 22.104]. At the OECD, the concept of debt is the one of 2008 SNA definition. This definition differs from the definition of debt applied under the Maastricht Treaty for European countries. 

•  General government debt as a percentage of GDP

General government expenditure: corresponds to total actual expenditure, meaning monetary payments made by general government. This transaction is widely used to measure the size of the role played by general government in the national economy.  This information is available in different place in OECD database under different codes:

Details of government expenditure by function (called COFOG) can be found at the following links :

• Annual government expenditure by function (COFOG)
• Total government expenditure as a percentage of GDP
• Annual government non-financial accounts and key indicators: Revenue | Expenditure | Balancing items  

Total taxes and social contributions: this transaction is similar to the previous one, but it is measured by general government revenue and not expenditure. As its name indicates, it reflects the taxes and actual contributions (in other words, not including imputed contributions) that households and firms must pay to various parts of general government.

• Annual government taxes and social contributions receipts

Many other transactions besides the GDP and its components are reported in ANA. You may also find other data such as:  

• Annual household final consumption expenditure by purpose (COICOP)
• Annual population and employment, national concept
• Annual employment by economic activity, domestic concept
• Annual value added and its components by economic activity
• Annual employment by detailed economic activity, domestic concept
• Annual capital formation by economic activity
• Annual Fixed assets by economic activity and by asset
• Annual balance sheets for non-financial assets
• Annual simplified non-financial accounts by institutional sector: Revenue | Expenditure | Balancing items
• Annual non-financial accounts by institutional sector: Expenditure | Revenue

All those data are compiled into a unique framework (SNA 93-08), which make them fully comparative at the international level:

• System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 08)
• System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA 93)

Household's savings:

Net saving is a balancing item of the households institutional sector that reports the difference between the net disposable income of households and final consumption expenditures. Gross saving is used to acquire financial and non-financial assets.

• Household’s savings 

Households' net lending/net borrowing represents the amount available for the purchase of financial assets or debt repayment. It is almost always positive for HH sector. It is sometimes also called the "Financial saving". 

• Household's net lending/net borrowing

Households debt: The concept of debt is the one of 2008 SNA definition. Debt is obtained as the sum of the following liability categories, whenever available / applicable in the financial balance sheet of the institutional sector: currency and deposits (AF2), securities other than shares, except financial derivatives (AF33), loans (AF4), insurance technical reserves (AF6) and other accounts payable (AF7). The OECD publishes an indicator showing the stock of debt obtained from the financial balance sheet of Households and NPISHs sector (S14+S15) as a percentage of its gross disposable income.  For the households sector, liabilities are essentially made up of loans, and more particularly of house purchase loans.

• Households debt as a percentage of net disposable income

OECD publishes long time series of GDP as from 1970 for most of the countries. 

Quarterly national accounts are accessible here.

Monthly GDP and other monthly national accounts data are not available.

All OECD countries provide now their series by activity according to ISIC rev 4 classification, whereas they used to provide them according to ISIC rev3.

Since some countries publish data in more detail or for a longer time period, there is also an archive for analysts wishing to use the ISIC rev 3 breakdown. Archived annual data (SNA93 methodology) is accessible from the National Accounts web page.

These two ISIC classifications and their correspondence are available on UNSD web site:

• ISIC Rev 4
• ISIS Rev 3

The 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA 2008) is a statistical framework that sets international standards for the recording of economic activity within a country to ensure the comparability of national accounts across countries. It has been produced, in 2009, by the United Nations Statistical Commission, the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. The 2008 SNA replaces the 1993 SNA and has been updated to adjust to changes in the economic environment and research. Further information can be found here.

The SNA 08 introduced 44 conceptual changes and 29 clarifications to the system of national accounts. However, only a few of these changes have a significant impact on the GDP, the two biggest one concerning the treatment of research and development and the military weapon system.

In 2008 SNA, Research and development is no longer recorded as intermediate consumption but treated as investment (also referred to “gross fixed capital formation” in the SNA), being part of the gross capital formation. Due to this change, the GDP level of the OECD Member countries rose on average by 2.2%.

Military weapon systems are also recorded as part of the gross fixed capital formation instead of intermediate consumption. This change led to an increase of the GDP level of the OECD Member countries on average by 0.3 %.

Some other changes concern the recording of pension entitlements, exports, and the inclusion of illegal economic activity in national accounts.

All OECD Member states compile their accounts according to the 2008 SNA, with the exception of Chile, Japan and Türkiye, which are currently using the 1993 SNA and will adopt the new methodology in 2015 and 2016. Further information can be found here. 

Further information on the SNA 2008 and its impact on national accounts can be found here:

• OECD: Implementation of the System of National Account 2008: detailed information
• OECD Statistics Brief: New standards for compiling national accounts: what’s the impact on GDP and other macro-economic indicators?
• EUROSTAT: Manual on the changes between ESA 95 and ESA 2010 Manuals and guidelines 2014

SNA 2008 definition
Paragraph 26.25: The most commonly used concept of economic territory is the area under the effective economic control of a single government. However, currency or economic unions, regions, or the world as a whole may be used, as they may also be a focus for macroeconomic policy or analysis.

Paragraph 26.26: An economic territory includes the land area including islands, airspace, territorial waters and territorial enclaves in the rest of the world (such as embassies, consulates, military bases, scientific stations, information or immigration offices, that have immunity from the laws of the host territory) physically located in other territories. Economic territory has the dimensions of physical location as well as legal jurisdiction, so that corporations created under the law of that jurisdiction are part of that economy. The economic territory also includes special zones, such as free trade zones and offshore financial centres. These are under the control of the government so are part of the economy, even though different regulatory and tax regimes may apply. (However, it may also be useful to show separate data for such zones.) The territory excludes international organizations and enclaves of other governments that are physically located in the territory.

This definition applies for all OECD countries with the following exceptions:

France
French economic territory encompasses the French shelf including the “Departements d’Outre Mer” (DOM). These DOM were included in the 95 base published in May 1999, before that they were part of the Rest of the World. The DOM consist of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion et Mayotte (Since April 2011).

Netherlands
The Dutch economic territory consists of the Netherlands that is the geographic territory of the Kingdom in Europe. It excludes any overseas territories.

Italy
The Italian national accounts cover the Italian economic territory but exclude extraterritorial enclaves (the Vatican State and San Marino).

Denmark
The Danish national accounts cover the economic territory of the Kingdom of Denmark except for the Faroe Islands and Greenland (in accordance with the Commission regulation (EC) No 109/2005)

Norway
The economic territory includes the Norwegian Continental shelf and Svalbard, but excludes overseas territories.

Portugal
The geographic coverage is the entire economic territory of Portugal, including Madeira and Azores.

United Kingdom
The UK economic territory includes Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It excludes Crown dependencies (Channel Islands and the Isle of Man).

United States
Geographic coverage: The geographic coverage of the data for the NIPAs is the 50 States and the District of Columbia. All legal activities are covered (certain non-market activities by imputation). Activities reflect the entire period (year or quarter).

The accounts exclude U.S. territories, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands. (A Statistical Improvement Program funded by the Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior has allowed BEA to develop separate GDP accounts for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands).