The total market value of all final goods and services produced inside a country in a particular period is known as GDP, or Gross Domestic Product. Private and public consumption, private and public investment, and exports minus imports are all included.
GDP is the most widely used metric of economic activity and is an useful way to track a country’s economic health. The percent change in real GDP, which corrects the nominal GDP figure for inflation, is referred to as economic growth (GDP growth). As a result, real GDP is also known as inflation-adjusted GDP or GDP in constant prices.
For the last five years, the table below illustrates percent changes in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each country.
Are you looking for a forecast? The FocusEconomics Consensus Forecasts for each country cover over 30 macroeconomic indicators over a 5-year projection period, as well as quarterly forecasts for the most important economic variables. Find out more.
What’s the difference between economic growth and GDP?
What is the difference between growth and development, as posed by readers? Is it possible for a country to grow economically without developing?
- Improvements in the quality of life and living standards, such as literacy, life expectancy, and health care, are examples of economic growth.
- Under normal circumstances, we would anticipate economic growth to facilitate further economic development. More money can be spent on health care and education with a higher real GDP.
- The link, however, is not confirmed. The benefits of economic expansion may be squandered or kept by a select wealthy few.
Graph showing GDP vs GPI
Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is an acronym for Genuine Progress Indicator. This is a broader measure of living standards than GDP alone. GPI also considers the environment, health care, pollution, and education, and hence can be used to assess economic progress. It indicates that economic growth increased GPI from 1950 to 1980. However, the connection deteriorated after the mid-1980s.
Economic growth
The increase in Real GDP is a measure of economic growth (real output). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of national income, output, and spending. It essentially calculates the entire amount of products and services generated in a given economy.
Economic development
The term “development” refers to a broader set of statistics than merely GDP per capita. The study of development is concerned with how people are affected in the real world. It examines their real living conditions as well as their freedom to enjoy a high standard of living.
Poverty in its purest form. Do they have enough money to eat a nutritious diet and provide basic necessities like shelter? Economic growth may be required in order for people to have better wages and be able to buy more food. Economic growth, on the other hand, does not always improve people’s living conditions. Because they lack the ability to participate, economic growth may pass the poorest sectors of society by. One significant question is whether the advantages of economic progress are divided evenly across society’s many groups.
Standards in education, such as literacy rates. Growth in the economy may allow more money to be spent on education. There is no guarantee, however, that the proceeds of growth will be spent to raise educational standards. The relationship between GDP and literacy rates is frequently skewed.
Environmental regulations. Economic expansion, on the other hand, has the potential to affect the environment and people’s living standards. Higher output, for example, could result in more pollution. If increased growth necessitates the destruction of trees, this could have long-term negative environmental implications.
Infrastructure / Transportation Infrastructure and transportation improvements are required for economic development. This could be crucial for locations shut off from the primary sources of economic growth.
Measures of economic development
Because it relies on which components are included in the measure, gauging economic progress is not as precise as calculating GDP.
Economic growth can be measured in a variety of ways, including the Human Development Index (HDI)
- The Life Expectancy Index is a measure of how long people live. Average life expectancy in comparison to the world average.
Factors affecting economic growth in developing countries
- Corruption levels, such as the percentage of tax revenue that is really collected and spent on public services.
- Standards of education and labor productivity. The workforce’s productivity is influenced by basic literacy and education levels.
- Inward investment levels. China, for example, has made investments in a number of African countries in order to facilitate the export of raw materials that its economy requires.
- There is a lot of job mobility. Is it possible for labor to transition from relatively inefficient agriculture to more productive manufacturing?
- The amount of foreign help and investment that comes in. Aid that is targeted can help to enhance infrastructure and living conditions.
- Savings and investment levels. Increased savings can be used to fund further investment, which will aid economic growth.
Economic growth without development
It is feasible to have both economic growth and development at the same time. i.e., the economy is growing, but most people aren’t seeing any real gains in their living conditions. This could happen as a result of:
- Only a small percentage of the population may gain from economic progress. A country’s GDP will increase if it produces more oil, for example. However, it is possible that this oil is held by a single company, in which case the average worker does not gain.
- Corruption. Although a country’s GDP may increase, the advantages of growth may be diverted to politicians’ bank accounts.
- Concerns about the environment. The production of harmful chemicals will enhance real GDP. It can, however, cause environmental and health issues if not properly regulated. This is an illustration of how expansion can result in a drop in living standards for many people.
- Congestion. Congestion can be exacerbated by economic expansion. As a result, people will spend more time stuck in traffic. They may have a higher GDP, but their living standards are worse since they spend more time stuck in traffic.
- The output was not consumed. A rise in GDP is reflected when a state-owned industry boosts output. However, if the output is not utilised, it does not result in a rise in living standards.
- Spending on the military. Spending more on military items can boost a country’s GDP. However, if this is done at the price of health care and education, living standards may suffer.
- Is the increased GDP beneficial to everyone, or are the proceeds kept by a tiny percentage of the population?
- Statistics like the Human Development Index, which looks at real GDP as well as education and health care indexes, could be useful.
Is GDP the same as economic growth?
GDP growth is generally referred to by the term “economic growth.” The gross domestic product, or GDP, of a country is a measure of its economy’s size and health. It is the entire value of products and services generated in a certain period of time.
A 3 percent annual GDP growth rate simply signifies that the economy has increased by 3 percent in the previous year.
What is the significance of economic growth? The Bank of England’s Chief Economist, Andy Haldane, explains:
What causes GDP to rise?
The external balance of trade is the most essential of all the components that make up a country’s GDP. When the total value of products and services sold by local producers to foreign countries surpasses the total value of foreign goods and services purchased by domestic consumers, a country’s GDP rises. A country is said to have a trade surplus when this happens.
What are the four economic growth factors?
- The building blocks of an economy are the factors of production, which are the resources employed in generating and producing a good or service.
- Land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship are the forces of production that are flawlessly linked to create economic progress.
- By cutting manufacturing costs and raising earnings, improved economic growth enhances the standard of living.
What does GDP mean?
This article is part of Statistics for Beginners, a section of Statistics Described where statistical indicators and ideas are explained in a straightforward manner to make the world of statistics a little easier for pupils, students, and anybody else interested in statistics.
The most generally used measure of an economy’s size is gross domestic product (GDP). GDP can be calculated for a single country, a region (such as Tuscany in Italy or Burgundy in France), or a collection of countries (such as the European Union) (EU). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the sum of all value added in a given economy. The value added is the difference between the value of the goods and services produced and the value of the goods and services required to produce them, also known as intermediate consumption. More about that in the following article.
What role does GDP play in economic growth?
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth that is faster boosts the economy’s overall size and strengthens fiscal conditions. Growth in per capita GDP that is widely shared raises the material standard of living of the average American.
What is GDP such a poor indicator of economic growth?
GDP is a rough indicator of a society’s standard of living because it does not account for leisure, environmental quality, levels of health and education, activities undertaken outside the market, changes in income disparity, improvements in diversity, increases in technology, or the cost of living.
What is a good example of economic development?
Economic growth can be achieved in a variety of ways. The first is a rise in the economy’s stock of physical capital items. Increasing the amount of capital in the economy tends to boost labor productivity. Workers can create greater output per time period with newer, better, and more tools. A fisherman with a net, for example, will catch more fish per hour than a fisherman with a pointed pole. However, there are two factors that are crucial to this procedure. Someone in the economy must first save (give up present consumption) in order to free up resources for the creation of new capital, and the new capital must be of the right sort, in the right place, at the appropriate time for employees to use it productively.
What factors influence GDP growth?
Economic development and growth are impacted by four variables, according to economists: human resources, physical capital, natural resources, and technology. Governments in highly developed countries place a strong emphasis on these issues. Less-developed countries, especially those with abundant natural resources, will fall behind if they do not push technological development and increase their workers’ skills and education.