The Conference Board Total Economy Database

The Conference Board Total Economy Database is a comprehensive database with annual data covering GDP, population, employment, hours, labor quality, capital services, labor productivity, and total factor productivity for about 123 countries in the world.

Downloadable files

The Total Economy Database was developed by the Groningen Growth and Development Centre (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) in the early 1990s, and starting in the late 1990s, it was produced in partnership with The Conference Board. As of 2007, the database was transferred from the University of Groningen to The Conference Board, which has maintained and extended the database since then. As of this release (January 2010), the database has been extended with a module on sources of growth, including labor quantity and quality, capital services (non-ICT and ICT), and total factor productivity. The extended module aims to integrate two previous data sets: the world economy productivity data set created by Dale Jorgenson and Khuong Vu of Harvard University and the Total Economy Growth Accounting Database of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre.

The Conference Board Total Economy Database is published every year in January, providing preliminary estimates for the previous year and projections for the current year. The main results are published in The 2010 Productivity Brief (Members only). The database will be updated in the fall together with a more detailed discussion and analysis in the annual Performance Report (Members only). The series in the database are also used by the International Labor Office for their Key Indicators of the Labor Market (Chapter 18), and by the Department of Commerce in the Statistical Abstract of the United States.

The Conference Board Total Economy Database, which includes data for 123 countries from 1950 onwards, consists of the following series:

• Real Gross Domestic Product
• Population
• Employment
• Annual Working Hours
• GDP per Capita
• GDP per Person Engaged
• GDP per Hour Worked
• Labor Compensation Share
• Growth in Labor Quality
• Growth in non–ICT Capital Services
• Growth in ICT Capital Services
• Growth in Total Factor Productivity

These countries represent about 97 percent of the world population and, as smaller and poorer countries in particular are not yet included in the database, the sample represents an even larger share of the world GDP (99 percent).

The database with all countries and variables can be downloaded as two country details files in Excel format (Output, Labor, and Labor Productivity ; and Growth Accounting and Total Factor Productivity) or as a tab-delimited "flat file" in .txt format with all variables, years, and countries on one sheet, which can be used for loading data into statistical programs. In addition, we provide separate files with summary statistics and regional aggregations.

For this release, we have implemented the purchasing power parities (PPP) data set from the World Bank's 2005 International Comparison Program, with adjustments obtained from Alan Heston (University of Pennsylvania, Penn World Tables) to reflect global weighting, a change in the effect of the net foreign balance using PPP rather than an exchange rate, and a 12 percent downward adjustment of the PPP for China in order to better reflect the impact of lower prices in rural areas in China. The advantage of using this new PPP dataset is that it covers almost all countries in the world, using the data from the most recent PPP round. However, we also continue to publish estimates at 1990 PPPs from Angus Maddison (see the Methodological Notes for further details).

A detailed description of differences between the current version of the database and the June 2009 version is available here. Earlier versions of the Total Economy Database and descriptions of differences with previous versions can be downloaded from the Total Economy Database archive.

Real Gross Domestic Product

Gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices is an aggregate measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident institutional units engaged in production (plus any taxes and minus any subsidies on products not included in the value of their outputs). The sum of the final uses of goods and services (all uses except intermediate consumption) is measured in purchasers' prices less the value of imports of goods and services, or the sum of primary incomes distributed by resident producer units.

Two GDP series-GDPEKS and GDPGK-are available in the database. Both are in constant market prices and cover the period from 1950 to 2009. The GDPEKS series is based on PPPs for 2009, which cover 111 countries in the database, and it is updated with deflators from 2005 PPPs from the World/ICP PPP-round, but with adjustments obtained from Alan Heston (University of Pennsylvania, Penn World Tables). The GDPGK series is expressed in 1990 U.S. dollars, and it is available for all of the 123 countries in the database. It is converted at "Geary-Khamis" purchasing power parities (PPPs).

Population

Population is the annual average number of people present. Up to 1990, the population series are mostly derived from Angus Maddison's Statistics on World Population, GDP and Per Capita GDP, 1-2006 AD (Last update: March 2009). From 1990 onwards, the series is mostly derived from the U.S. Census Bureau International Data Base. To extend the population series to the period before 1950, the series can be linked to Maddison's historical series, which goes back to the nineteenth century and, in some cases, even further.

Employment

Employment figures should cover all persons engaged in some productivity activity that fall within the production boundary of the system. This group includes employees, the self-employed, unpaid family members that are economically engaged, apprentices, and the military. The production boundary follows the same domestic concept as the GDP, which includes all workers employed domestically, but not any nationals working abroad.

The employment data under National Accounts (domestic concept) in Eurostat New Cronos Database and OECD databases are the main sources used for advanced economies to ensure the consistency between measure of employment and GDP. A consistent and comparable measure of employment for countries not covered by OECD and Eurostat is not available. Instead, various international data sets are used (e.g., United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the ILO LABORSTA database, etc.).

Annual Working Hours

Total hours worked represent the aggregate number of hours actually worked as an employee or a self-employed person during the accounting period and when their output is within the production boundary.

The series of hours worked are currently available for 51 countries in the database with OECD and Eurostat National Accounts being the major data sources for recent years. Such data sources ensure that the total hours worked are within the production boundary and are consistent with the employment figures used in our database.

GDP per Capita

GDP per capita is obtained by dividing annual GDP by population. The two available series on real GDP per capita are based on GDPEKS and GDPGK.

To extend the GDP per capita series to the period before 1950, these series can be linked to the various historical series in Maddison's Statistics on World Population, GDP and Per Capita GDP, 1-2006 AD (Last update: March 2009), which often go back to the nineteenth century and, in some cases, even further.

GDP per Person Engaged

GDP per person engaged is obtained by dividing GDP by employment. It is one of the measures of labor productivity. The two available series on GDP per person engaged are based on GDPEKS and GDPGK.

GDP per Hour Worked

GDP per hour is obtained by dividing GDP by total hours worked. It is one of the measures of labor productivity. The two available series on GDP per person engaged are based on GDPEKS and GDPGK.

Compared to GDP per person engaged, GDP per hour is the preferred measure of labor productivity because it measures labor intensity more adequately. However, the availability of this variable is restricted by the annual working hours data, which are currently available for 51 countries in the database.

Labor Compensation Share

The output for an economy can be measured by adding up all incomes, which must be either earned by factors of production (capital and labor) or taxed by government. Labor's share in income is measured using compensation to employees and adding to it an adjustment (imputed wage compensation) for the self-employed.

Growth in Labor Quality

The database provides estimates for growth in skill sets of the labor force of a country, which is calculated using an index of labor quality derived from the distribution of labor force over different skills levels.

The labor quality index, which is constructed from a weighted summation of the percentage of labor force in low, medium, and high skill levels, with relative wages being weights for three skill levels respectively, ranges between 1 and 2.8 for developing economies and between 1 and 2.25 for advanced economies. A labor quality index of 1 indicates that all working force population is of low skill and 2.8/2.25 shows that all is of high skill. Please refer to the working paper "Measuring Labor Quality" (Bonthuis, 2009) for details.

Growth in non–ICT Capital Services

Growth in non-ICT capital services refers to the change in the flow of productive services provided by non-ICT assets. Three types of non-ICT assets are included-transport equipments; plant, machinery, and other non-ICT equipments; and construction, building and other structures.

The underlying capital stock series are calculated from the investment data using the perpetual inventory method. The growth in capital services is calculated using the user cost approach.

Growth in ICT Capital Services

Growth in ICT capital services refers to the change in the flow of productive services provided by ICT assets. The three types of ICT assets included are computer hardware and equipment, telecommunication equipment, and computer software and services.

Growth in Total Factor Productivity

Total factor productivity (TFP) growth accounts for the changes in output not caused by changes in inputs. TFP growth represents the effect of technological change, efficiency improvements, and our inability to measure the contribution of all other inputs. It is estimated as the residual by subtracting the sum of two-period average compensation share weighted input growth rates from the output growth rate. Log differences of level are used for growth rates, and hence TFP growth rates are Tornqvist indexes.

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Downloadable files

• Total Economy Database, Summary Statistics, 1995-2010
• The 2010 Productivity Brief (Members Only)
• Total Economy Database, Dashboard (Members Only)
• Methodological Notes
• Revision of ICT Asset Deflators, 2006-2008
  (revised March 2010)
• Recent Productivity Developments in the World Economy: An Overview from The Conference Board Total Economy Database
  (Spring 2010 issue of the International Productivity Monitor)
• Total Economy Database, Output, Labor, and Labor Productivity Country Details, 1950-2009
• Total Economy Database, Growth Accounting and Total Factor Productivity Country Details, 1980-2008
  (revised March 2010)
• Total Economy Database, Regional Aggregates
  (revised March 2010)
• Detailed Sources
• Aggregation Notes
• Total Economy Database, Country Details, Flat file