The Economic Statistics Branch of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) maintains and annually updates the National Accounts Main Aggregates database. It consists of a complete and consistent set of time series, from 1970 onwards, of the main National Accounts aggregates of all UN Members States and other territories in the world for which National Accounts information is available. Its contents are based on the official data reported to UNSD through the annual National Accounts Questionnaire, supplemented with data estimates for any years and countries with incomplete or inconsistent information.
Estimates are done when no official data are available. The final aggregates are provided in national currency and in United States dollars. The main aggregates in the database include Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by type of expenditure and Gross Value Added by kind of economic activity, both at current and at constant market prices. It also contains Gross National Income (GNI) at current prices and analytical indicators and ratios that reflect economic structure and trends of countries and areas. These analytical indicators are: annual per capita GDP and GNI (calculated using actual population or annual population estimates from the UN Population Division); annual growth rates of GDP; annual shares in total GDP and total Gross Value added of their respective components; and price trends as defined by the implicit price deflators of GDP.
The National Accounts Main Aggregates database is the product of a global cooperation effort between UNSD, international statistical agencies, and the national statistical services of more than 200 countries and territories. It has been prepared in response to a request by the Statistical Commission during its first session in 1947, and is in agreement with the resolution 48/223 C of the UN General Assembly, which mandates the Committee on Contributions to prepare the Scale of Assessment for UN Member States on the basis of the most recent reliable and verifiable available data on national accounts of as many countries and areas as possible, and that these data be published and disseminated regularly.
