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The 2005 International Comparison Program – Results

The International Comparison Program (ICP) has released the  final 2005 global report and Tables of final results. These tables provide comparative price data and estimate purchasing power parities (PPPs) for 146 economies. A revised version of Appendix G (Comparisons of New 2005 PPPs with Those Estimated from Previous Benchmark Surveys) is available here. It  provides additional details about the difficulties of comparing new and old PPPs and related measures. The table in the appendix (table G1) has also been revised to include the original data on GDP and GDP per capita for 2005 as published in the September 07 WDI.  In table G1, the columns headed "WDI '05", originally taken from the WDI 2008 database, have been replaced with data from the WDI 07 (September) database. These data better reflect the differences between estimates derived from the 1993 ICP and the new 2005 ICP.

Summary

The ICP data collection was conducted in 100 economies, divided into five regions, and when combined with a Eurostat-OECD PPP program, brings the total to 146 economies.

The principal outputs of the ICP are estimates of Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) benchmarked to the year 2005. The new PPPs replace previous benchmark estimates, some dating back to the 1980s.

The final global ICP report provides information on gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, household consumption, collective government consumption, and capital formation for all 146 economies. These estimates are derived from PPPs based upon national surveys that priced nearly 1,000 products and services.  Comparative price levels are also included.

Results

Tables of final results  provide information on gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, household consumption, collective government consumption, and capital formation for all 146 economies. These estimates are derived from PPPs based upon national surveys that priced nearly 1,000 products and services.  Comparative price levels are also included.

The full contents of the final report  are available in pdf, including  data tables. To see the press release, click  here. To see the press briefing presentation, click here Regional overviews include:

 

Data

The report provides information on gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, household consumption, collective government consumption, and capital formation for all 146 economies. These estimates are derived from PPPs based upon national surveys that priced nearly 1,000 products and services.  Comparative price levels are also included.

Tables of final results are available in pdf formats.

To see the estimation of PPPs for non-benchmark economies, click here.

To access the ICP database and download the data, click here.

Background

The International Comparison Program (commonly known as the ICP) is a worldwide statistical initiative to collect comparative price data and estimate purchasing power parities (PPPs) of the world’s principle economies. Using PPPs instead of market exchange rates to convert currencies makes it possible to compare the output of economies and the welfare of their inhabitants in real terms - that is, controlling for differences in price levels.

The ICP report, 2005 International Comparison Program, brings together the results of two separate PPP programs. The first is the global ICP program conducted by the ICP Global Office within the World Bank, which provided overall coordination for the collection of data and calculation of PPPs in more than 100 (mostly developing) economies. The program was organized in five geographic areas: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin America, and Western Asia. Regional agencies took the lead in coordinating the work in the five regions.

In parallel, the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducted its 2005 PPP program that included 46 countries.   Eurostat covered 37 countries - the 25 EU member states, the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The OECD part of the program included nine other countries – its seven non-European member countries, Russia and Israel.

The ICP Global Office has combined the results from each of the five regions with those from the OECD/Eurostat PPP Program into an overall global comparison, so that results for all participating countries can be compared directly. Methodology to compare regions, the ring comparison, was developed specifically to link the regional PPPs without changing the relative results within a region.

For more information on the background, click here.

 




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