Gross domestic product is the main aggregate that measures a country's economic activity. It is the sum of the gross value-added newly created by the resident economic units of this country in a given year, valued at market prices.

It gives a measure of the new wealth created each year by the country's production system and enables international comparisons.

Gross domestic product is published at current prices and in volume at the chained prices of the previous year. Its change in volume (i.e. excluding price effects) measures economic growth. Its price index reflects the price evolution of all its components.

It can be calculated using three different approaches.

"Production" approach

GDP is the sum of gross value-added at basic price (equal to total output at basic price minus intermediate consumptions at purchaser's price), plus taxes on products (including VAT), minus subsidies on products:

GDP = Gross value-added at basic price (B1g) + Taxes on products (D21) - Subsidies on products (D31).

"Demand" approach

GDP is the sum of final domestic uses (final consumption, gross capital formation), plus exports and minus imports:

GDP = Final consumption expenditures (P3) + Gross capital formation (P5) + Exports (P6) - Imports (P7).

"Income" approach

GDP is the sum of primary incomes directly generated by production: payment of employees, operating surplus and mixed income, taxes on production and imports, net of subsidies

GDP = Compensation of employees (D1) + Gross operating surplus and gross mixed income (B2g + B3g) + Taxes on production and imports (D2) - Subsidies (D3).

Contributions to changes in gross domestic product (GDP)

The change in gross domestic product can be broken down as the sum of contributions by its various components: final consumption expenditures, gross capital formation, and trade balance.

For a given year, the contribution of a component to the change in gross domestic product is equal to the product of the annual growth rate of this component and its weight in gross domestic product the previous year.

Value added

Domestic employment, measured by number of people, includes all physical persons, whether residents or not, employed in a resident production unit. It includes non-residents and seasonal employees working on the economic territory and excludes residents working outside the economic territory. The number of jobs is an annual average. All types of jobs are counted, including short-term employment.

Domestic employment is calculated in "physical persons" and "full-time equivalents".

Domestic employment in "physical persons" counts all people in declared full-time or part-time employment. Domestic employment in "full-time equivalents" is estimated on the basis of the number of physical persons, taking account of the average duration of part-time work, the average proportion of people in part-time employment and of undeclared work.

Domestic employment is broken down by branch and by institutional sector.

Net lending (+) / borrowing (-)

Net lending/borrowing (B9NF) is the balancing item of the capital account. The capital account records acquisitions less disposals of non-financial assets owned by resident economic units and measures changes in assets due to saving and to capital transfers.

This balancing item is calculated as gross saving (B8g) plus net capital transfers (received (D9r) minus paid (D9p) and minus accumulation expenditures : gross fixed capital formation (P51g), change in inventories (P53), acquisitions less disposals of valuables (P53) and of non-produced assets (land,...) (NP).

If this balancing item is positive, it shows a lending capacity ; when negative, it shows a borrowing need.

It can be calculated for resident economic units and for the institutional sectors to which they belong.

Gross domestic income

Gross domestic income is the sum of all primary (gross) incomes received by resident economic units : gross operating surplus (B2g), gross mixed income (B3g), compensation of employees (D1), taxes net of subsidies on production and imports (D2-D3), property income received minus that paid (D4).

It is equal to gross domestic product (GDP) minus the primary incomes paid to non-resident economic units plus the primary incomes received by resident units from the rest of the world.

It gives a measure of the primary incomes received by all resident economic units and enables international comparisons.