Crop production index (2014-2016 = 100)

Developmentrelevance:
The commodities covered in the computation of indices of agricultural production are all crops and livestock products originating in each country. Practically all products are covered, with the main exception of fodder crops. The category of food production includes commodities that are considered edible and that contain nutrients. Accordingly, coffee and tea are excluded along with inedible commodities because, although edible, they have practically no nutritive value.

It should be noted that when calculating indices of agricultural, food and nonfood production, all intermediate primary inputs of agricultural origin are deducted. However, for indices of any other commodity group, only inputs originating from within the same group are deducted; thus, only seed is removed from the group "crops" and from all crop subgroups, such as cereals, oil crops, etc.; and both feed and seed originating from within the livestock sector (e.g. milk feed, hatching eggs) are removed from the group "livestock products". For the main two livestock subgroups, namely, meat and milk, only feed originating from the respective subgroup is removed.

Crop production data refer to the actual harvested production from the field or orchard and gardens, excluding harvesting and threshing losses and that part of crop not harvested for any reason. Production therefore includes the quantities of the commodity sold in the market (marketed production) and the quantities consumed or used by the producers (auto-consumption).

IndicatorName: Crop production index (2014-2016 = 100)

Limitationsandexceptions:
The FAO indices may differ from those produced by the countries themselves because of differences in concepts of production, coverage, time periods, weights, time reference of data, methods of calculation, and use of international prices.

Agricultural data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from official national sources through annual questionnaires and are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. Data on agricultural employment, in particular, should be used with caution. In many countries much agricultural employment is informal and unrecorded, including substantial work performed by women and children. To address some of these concerns, this indicator is heavily footnoted in the database in sources, definition, and coverage.

Longdefinition: Crop production index shows agricultural production for each year relative to the base period 2014-2016. It includes all crops except fodder crops. Regional and income group aggregates for the FAO's production indexes are calculated from the underlying values in international dollars, normalized to the base period 2014-2016.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The agricultural production index is prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The FAO indices of agricultural production show the relative level of the aggregate volume of agricultural production for each year in comparison with the base period 2014-2016. They are based on the sum of price-weighted quantities of different agricultural commodities produced after deductions of quantities used as seed and feed weighted in a similar manner. The resulting aggregate represents, therefore, disposable production for any use except as seed and feed. All the indices at the country, regional and world levels are calculated by the Laspeyres formula*. Production quantities of each commodity are weighted by 2014-2016 average international commodity prices and summed for each year. To obtain the index, the aggregate for a given year is divided by the average aggregate for the base period 2014-2016. Since the FAO indices are based on the concept of agriculture as a single enterprise, amounts of seed and feed are subtracted from the production data to avoid double counting, once in the production data and once with the crops or livestock produced from them. Deductions for seed (in the case of eggs, for hatching) and for livestock and poultry feed apply to both domestically produced and imported commodities. They cover only primary agricultural products destined to animal feed (e.g. maize, potatoes, milk, etc.). Processed and semi-processed feed items such as bran, oilcakes, meals and molasses have been completely excluded from the calculations at all stages. It should be noted that when calculating indices of agricultural, food and nonfood production, all intermediate primary inputs of agricultural origin are deducted. However, for indices of any other commodity group, only inputs originating from within the same group are deducted; thus, only seed is removed from the group "crops" and from all crop subgroups, such as cereals, oil crops, etc.; and both feed and seed originating from within the livestock sector (e.g. milk feed, hatching eggs) are removed from the group "livestock products". For the main two livestock subgroups, namely, meat and milk, only feed originating from the respective subgroup is removed. Indices which take into account deductions for feed and seed are referred to as ''net''. Indices calculated without any deductions for feed and seed are referred to as ''gross". The "international commodity prices" are used in order to avoid the use of exchange rates for obtaining continental and world aggregates, and also to improve and facilitate international comparative analysis of productivity at the national level. These" international prices," expressed in so-called "international dollars," are derived using a Geary-Khamis formula** for the agricultural sector. This method assigns a single "price" to each commodity. For example, one metric ton of wheat has the same price regardless of the country where it was produced. The currency unit in which the prices are expressed has no influence on the indices published. The commodities covered in the computation of indices of agricultural production are all crops and livestock products originating in each country. Practically all products are covered, with the main exception of fodder crops.

* A Laspeyres Index is known as a "base-weighted" or "fixed-weighted" index because the price increases are weighted by the quantities in the base period. The Consumer Price Index is an example of a Laspeyres Index. http://www.usna.edu/Users/econ/rbrady/312%20Materials/LaspeyresCalc.pdf
** Geary-Khamis formula is an aggregation method in which category "international prices" (reflecting relative category values) and country purchasing power parities (PPPs), (depicting relative country price levels) are estimated simultaneously from a system of linear equations. http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=5528


Periodicity: Annual

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.

Topic: Environment: Agricultural production

Aggregationmethod: Weighted average

License_Type: CC BY-4.0

value: World Development Indicators

sourceNote: Crop production index shows agricultural production for each year relative to the base period 2014-2016. It includes all crops except fodder crops. Regional and income group aggregates for the FAO's production indexes are calculated from the underlying values in international dollars, normalized to the base period 2014-2016.

value: Agriculture & Rural Development


sourceOrganization: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.


name: Fragile and conflict affected situations


name: Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income)


name: Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)


name: Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)


name: Least developed countries: UN classification


name: Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)


name: East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries)


Food production index (2014-2016 = 100)

IndicatorName: Food production index (2014-2016 = 100)

Limitationsandexceptions: Agricultural data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from official national sources through the questionnaire and are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. Data on agricultural employment, in particular, should be used with caution. In many countries much agricultural employment is informal and unrecorded, including substantial work performed by women and children. To address some of these concerns, this indicator is heavily footnoted in the database in sources, definition, and coverage.

Longdefinition: Food production index covers food crops that are considered edible and that contain nutrients. Coffee and tea are excluded because, although edible, they have no nutritive value.


sourceNote: Food production index covers food crops that are considered edible and that contain nutrients. Coffee and tea are excluded because, although edible, they have no nutritive value.


IndicatorName: Livestock production index (2014-2016 = 100)

Limitationsandexceptions:
Agricultural data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from official national sources through the questionnaire and are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations.

The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. Data on agricultural employment, in particular, should be used with caution. In many countries much agricultural employment is informal and unrecorded, including substantial work performed by women and children. To address some of these concerns, this indicator is heavily footnoted in the database in sources, definition, and coverage.

Longdefinition: Livestock production index includes meat and milk from all sources, dairy products such as cheese, and eggs, honey, raw silk, wool, and hides and skins.


name: Livestock production index (2014-2016 = 100)

sourceNote: Livestock production index includes meat and milk from all sources, dairy products such as cheese, and eggs, honey, raw silk, wool, and hides and skins.


Surface area (sq. km)

Developmentrelevance:
Total surface area is particularly important for understanding an economy's agricultural capacity and the environmental effects of human activity. Innovations in satellite mapping and computer databases have resulted in more precise measurements of land and water areas.

Population, surface area, income, and output are basic measures of the size of an economy. They also provide a broad indication of actual and potential resources. Land area is therefore used as one of the major indicator to normalize other indicators.

IndicatorName: Surface area (sq. km)

Limitationsandexceptions:
The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations through annual questionnaires. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible.

The data collected from official national sources through the questionnaire are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations.

Longdefinition: Surface area is a country's total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Total land area includes inland water bodies such as major rivers and lakes. Variations from year to year may be due to updated or revised data rather than to change in area. Including areas of former states; for example, the areas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) are counted in Russian Federationand other successor states.

Topic: Environment: Land use

Aggregationmethod: Sum

Othernotes: Areas of former states are included in the successor states.

value: Environment


sourceNote: Surface area is a country's total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways.


Cereal yield (kg per hectare)

Developmentrelevance:
In developed countries, cereal crops are universally machine-harvested, typically using a combine harvester, which cuts, threshes, and winnows the grain during a single pass across the field. In many industrialized countries, particularly in the United States and Canada, farmers commonly deliver their newly harvested grain to a grain elevator or a storage facility that consolidates the crops of many farmers. In developing countries, a variety of harvesting methods are used in cereal cultivation, depending on the cost of labor, from small combines to hand tools such as the scythe or cradle.

Crop production systems have evolved rapidly over the past century and have resulted in significantly increased crop yields, but have also created undesirable environmental side-effects such as soil degradation and erosion, pollution from chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals and a loss of bio-diversity. Factors such as the green revolution, has led to impressive progress in increasing cereals yields over the last few decades. This progress, however, is not equal across all regions. Continued progress depends on maintaining agricultural research and education. The cultivation of cereals varies widely in different countries and depends partly upon the development of the economy. Production depends on the nature of the soil, the amount of rainfall, irrigation, quality of seeds, and the techniques applied to promote growth.

IndicatorName: Cereal yield (kg per hectare)

Limitationsandexceptions:
Cereals production data relate to crops harvested for dry grain only. Cereal crops harvested for hay or harvested green for food, feed, or silage and those used for grazing are excluded. The FAO allocates production data to the calendar year in which the bulk of the harvest took place. Most of a crop harvested near the end of a year will be used in the following year.

The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through annual questionnaires. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. Thus, data on agricultural land in different climates may not be comparable. For example, permanent pastures are quite different in nature and intensity in African countries and dry Middle Eastern countries.

Data on cereal yield may be affected by a variety of reporting and timing differences. Millet and sorghum, which are grown as feed for livestock and poultry in Europe and North America, are used as food in Africa, Asia, and countries of the former Soviet Union. So some cereal crops are excluded from the data for some countries and included elsewhere, depending on their use.

The data collected from official national sources through the questionnaire are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations.

Longdefinition: Cereal yield, measured as kilograms per hectare of harvested land, includes wheat, rice, maize, barley, oats, rye, millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and mixed grains. Production data on cereals relate to crops harvested for dry grain only. Cereal crops harvested for hay or harvested green for food, feed, or silage and those used for grazing are excluded. The FAO allocates production data to the calendar year in which the bulk of the harvest took place. Most of a crop harvested near the end of a year will be used in the following year.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: A cereal is a grass cultivated for the edible components of their grain, composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal yield is measured as kilograms per hectare of harvested land. Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop; cereal crops therefore can also be called staple crops Cereals production includes wheat, rice, maize, barley, oats, rye, millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and mixed grains. Production data on cereals relate to crops harvested for dry grain only. Cereal crops harvested for hay or harvested green for food, feed, or silage and those used for grazing are excluded.

Othernotes: The world and regional aggregate series do not include data from countries that no longer exist.

Unitofmeasure: Kg per hectare

value: Climate Change


sourceNote: Cereal yield, measured as kilograms per hectare of harvested land, includes wheat, rice, maize, barley, oats, rye, millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and mixed grains. Production data on cereals relate to crops harvested for dry grain only. Cereal crops harvested for hay or harvested green for food, feed, or silage and those used for grazing are excluded. The FAO allocates production data to the calendar year in which the bulk of the harvest took place. Most of a crop harvested near the end of a year will be used in the following year.


Shortdefinition: Cereal yield, measured as kilograms per hectare of harvested land, includes wheat, rice, maize, barley, oats, rye, millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and mixed grains. Production data on cereals relate to crops harvested for dry grain only. Cereal crops harvested for hay or harvested green for food, feed, or silage and those used for grazing are excluded.


Trade in services (% of GDP)

IndicatorName: Trade in services (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Trade in services is the sum of service exports and imports divided by the value of GDP, all in current U.S. dollars.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt: Balance of payments: Current account: Goods, services & income

Generalcomments: Note: Data are based on the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6) and are only available from 2005 onwards.

value: Economy & Growth

value: Private Sector

value: Trade


sourceNote: Trade in services is the sum of service exports and imports divided by the value of GDP, all in current U.S. dollars.

sourceOrganization: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.


IndicatorName: Communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Communications, computer, information, and other services cover international telecommunications; computer data; news-related service transactions between residents and nonresidents; construction services; royalties and license fees; miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services; personal, cultural, and recreational services; manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others; and maintenance and repair services and government services not included elsewhere.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files.


name: Communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP)

sourceNote: Communications, computer, information, and other services cover international telecommunications; computer data; news-related service transactions between residents and nonresidents; construction services; royalties and license fees; miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services; personal, cultural, and recreational services; manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others; and maintenance and repair services and government services not included elsewhere.

sourceOrganization: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files.


IndicatorName: Primary income payments (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Primary income payments refer to employee compensation paid to nonresident workers and investment income (payments on direct investment, portfolio investment, other investments). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Primary income payments (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Primary income payments refer to employee compensation paid to nonresident workers and investment income (payments on direct investment, portfolio investment, other investments). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


Developmentrelevance:
The balance of payments records an economy’s transactions with the rest of the world. Balance of payments accounts are divided into two groups: the current account, which records transactions in goods, services, primary income, and secondary income, and the capital and financial account, which records capital transfers, acquisition or disposal of nonproduced, nonfinancial assets, and transactions in financial assets and liabilities. The current account balance is one of the most analytically useful indicators of an external imbalance.

A primary purpose of the balance of payments accounts is to indicate the need to adjust an external imbalance. Where to draw the line for analytical purposes requires a judgment concerning the imbalance that best indicates the need for adjustment. There are a number of definitions in common use for this and related analytical purposes. The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports of goods. From an analytical view it is arbitrary to distinguish goods from services. For example, a unit of foreign exchange earned by a freight company strengthens the balance of payments to the same extent as the foreign exchange earned by a goods exporter. Even so, the trade balance is useful because it is often the most timely indicator of trends in the current account balance. Customs authorities are typically able to provide data on trade in goods long before data on trade in services are available.

IndicatorName: Imports of goods and services (BoP, current US$)

Limitationsandexceptions: Discrepancies may arise in the balance of payments because there is no single source for balance of payments data and therefore no way to ensure that the data are fully consistent. Sources include customs data, monetary accounts of the banking system, external debt records, information provided by enterprises, surveys to estimate service transactions, and foreign exchange records. Differences in collection methods - such as in timing, definitions of residence and ownership, and the exchange rate used to value transactions - contribute to net errors and omissions. In addition, smuggling and other illegal or quasi-legal transactions may be unrecorded or misrecorded.

Longdefinition: Imports of goods and services comprise all transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world involving a change of ownership from nonresidents to residents of general merchandise, nonmonetary gold, and services. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions.

The concepts and definitions underlying the data are based on the sixth edition of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6). Balance of payments data for 2005 onward will be presented in accord with the BPM6. The historical BPM5 data series will end with data for 2008, which can be accessed through the World Development Indicators archives.

The complete balance of payments methodology can be accessed through the International Monetary Fund website (www.imf.org/external/np/sta/bop/bop.htm).

Aggregationmethod: Gap-filled total


name: Imports of goods and services (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Imports of goods and services comprise all transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world involving a change of ownership from nonresidents to residents of general merchandise, nonmonetary gold, and services. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


IndicatorName: Insurance and financial services (% of service imports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Insurance and financial services cover various types of insurance provided to nonresidents by resident insurance enterprises and vice versa, and financial intermediary and auxiliary services (except those of insurance enterprises and pension funds) exchanged between residents and nonresidents.


name: Insurance and financial services (% of service imports, BoP)

sourceNote: Insurance and financial services cover various types of insurance provided to nonresidents by resident insurance enterprises and vice versa, and financial intermediary and auxiliary services (except those of insurance enterprises and pension funds) exchanged between residents and nonresidents.


name: Fragile and conflict affected situations


name: Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income)


Goods imports (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: Goods imports (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Goods imports refer to all movable goods (including nonmonetary gold) involved in a change of ownership from nonresidents to residents. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


sourceNote: Goods imports refer to all movable goods (including nonmonetary gold) involved in a change of ownership from nonresidents to residents. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)


name: Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries)


Service imports (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: Service imports (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Services refer to economic output of intangible commodities that may be produced, transferred, and consumed at the same time. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Generalcomments: Note: Data are based on the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6) and are only available from 2005 onwards. Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others (goods for processing in BPM5) and maintenance and repair services n.i.e. are reclassified from goods to services.


sourceNote: Services refer to economic output of intangible commodities that may be produced, transferred, and consumed at the same time. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)


name: Least developed countries: UN classification


name: Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)


IndicatorName: Charges for the use of intellectual property, payments (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Charges for the use of intellectual property are payments and receipts between residents and nonresidents for the authorized use of proprietary rights (such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial processes and designs including trade secrets, and franchises) and for the use, through licensing agreements, of produced originals or prototypes (such as copyrights on books and manuscripts, computer software, cinematographic works, and sound recordings) and related rights (such as for live performances and television, cable, or satellite broadcast). Data are in current U.S. dollars.

value: Science & Technology


name: Charges for the use of intellectual property, payments (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Charges for the use of intellectual property are payments and receipts between residents and nonresidents for the authorized use of proprietary rights (such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial processes and designs including trade secrets, and franchises) and for the use, through licensing agreements, of produced originals or prototypes (such as copyrights on books and manuscripts, computer software, cinematographic works, and sound recordings) and related rights (such as for live performances and television, cable, or satellite broadcast). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Imports of goods, services and primary income (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Imports of goods, services and primary income is the sum of goods imports, service imports and primary income payments. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

value: External Debt


name: Imports of goods, services and primary income (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Imports of goods, services and primary income is the sum of goods imports, service imports and primary income payments. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Transport services (% of service imports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Transport covers all transport services (sea, air, land, internal waterway, pipeline, space and electricity transmission) performed by residents of one economy for those of another and involving the carriage of passengers, the movement of goods (freight), rental of carriers with crew, and related support and auxiliary services. Also included are postal and courier services. Excluded are freight insurance (included in insurance services); goods procured in ports by nonresident carriers (included in goods); maintenance and repairs on transport equipment (included in maintenance and repair services n.i.e.); and repairs of railway facilities, harbors, and airfield facilities (included in construction).


name: Transport services (% of service imports, BoP)

sourceNote: Transport covers all transport services (sea, air, land, internal waterway, pipeline, space and electricity transmission) performed by residents of one economy for those of another and involving the carriage of passengers, the movement of goods (freight), rental of carriers with crew, and related support and auxiliary services. Also included are postal and courier services. Excluded are freight insurance (included in insurance services); goods procured in ports by nonresident carriers (included in goods); maintenance and repairs on transport equipment (included in maintenance and repair services n.i.e.); and repairs of railway facilities, harbors, and airfield facilities (included in construction).


IndicatorName: Travel services (% of service imports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Travel covers goods and services acquired from an economy by travelers for their own use during visits of less than one year in that economy for either business or personal purposes. Travel includes local transport (i.e., transport within the economy being visited and provided by a resident of that economy), but excludes international transport (which is included in passenger transport. Travel also excludes goods for resale, which are included in general merchandise.


name: Travel services (% of service imports, BoP)

sourceNote: Travel covers goods and services acquired from an economy by travelers for their own use during visits of less than one year in that economy for either business or personal purposes. Travel includes local transport (i.e., transport within the economy being visited and provided by a resident of that economy), but excludes international transport (which is included in passenger transport. Travel also excludes goods for resale, which are included in general merchandise.


Developmentrelevance: Private financial flows - equity and debt - account for the bulk of development finance. Equity flows comprise foreign direct investment (FDI) and portfolio equity. Debt flows are financing raised through bond issuance, bank lending, and supplier credits.

IndicatorName: Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$)

Limitationsandexceptions:
FDI data do not give a complete picture of international investment in an economy. Balance of payments data on FDI do not include capital raised locally, an important source of investment financing in some developing countries. In addition, FDI data omit nonequity cross-border transactions such as intra-unit flows of goods and services.

The volume of global private financial flows reported by the World Bank generally differs from that reported by other sources because of differences in sources, classification of economies, and method used to adjust and disaggregate reported information. In addition, particularly for debt financing, differences may also reflect how some installments of the transactions and certain offshore issuances are treated.

Data on equity flows are shown for all countries for which data are available.

Longdefinition: Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in an economy. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and other capital. Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. Ownership of 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares of voting stock is the criterion for determining the existence of a direct investment relationship. This series shows net outflows of investment from the reporting economy to the rest of the world. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments database, supplemented by data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and official national sources.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Data on equity flows are based on balance of payments data reported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Foreign direct investment (FDI) data are supplemented by the World Bank staff estimates using data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and official national sources.

The internationally accepted definition of FDI (from the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual [2009]), includes the following components: equity investment, including investment associated with equity that gives rise to control or influence; investment in indirectly influenced or controlled enterprises; investment in fellow enterprises; debt (except selected debt); and reverse investment. The Framework for Direct Investment Relationships provides criteria for determining whether cross-border ownership results in a direct investment relationship, based on control and influence. Distinguished from other kinds of international investment, FDI is made to establish a lasting interest in or effective management control over an enterprise in another country. A lasting interest in an investment enterprise typically involves establishing warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and other permanent or long-term organizations abroad. Direct investments may take the form of greenfield investment, where the investor starts a new venture in a foreign country by constructing new operational facilities; joint venture, where the investor enters into a partnership agreement with a company abroad to establish a new enterprise; or merger and acquisition, where the investor acquires an existing enterprise abroad. The IMF suggests that investments should account for at least 10 percent of voting stock to be counted as FDI. In practice many countries set a higher threshold. Many countries fail to report reinvested earnings, and the definition of long-term loans differs among countries. BoP refers to Balance of Payments.

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt: Balance of payments: Capital & financial account

Generalcomments: Note: Data starting from 2005 are based on the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6).

value: Financial Sector


name: Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in an economy. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and other capital. Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. Ownership of 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares of voting stock is the criterion for determining the existence of a direct investment relationship. This series shows net outflows of investment from the reporting economy to the rest of the world. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

sourceOrganization: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments database, supplemented by data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and official national sources.


name: Fragile and conflict affected situations


name: Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income)


name: Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)


IndicatorName: Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in an economy. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and other capital. Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. Ownership of 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares of voting stock is the criterion for determining the existence of a direct investment relationship. This series shows net outflows of investment from the reporting economy to the rest of the world, and is divided by GDP.


name: Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP)

sourceNote: Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in an economy. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and other capital. Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. Ownership of 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares of voting stock is the criterion for determining the existence of a direct investment relationship. This series shows net outflows of investment from the reporting economy to the rest of the world, and is divided by GDP.


name: Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Secondary income, other sectors, payments (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Secondary income refers to transfers recorded in the balance of payments whenever an economy provides or receives goods, services, income, or financial items without a quid pro quo. All transfers not considered to be capital are current. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt: Balance of payments: Current account: Transfers


name: Secondary income, other sectors, payments (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Secondary income refers to transfers recorded in the balance of payments whenever an economy provides or receives goods, services, income, or financial items without a quid pro quo. All transfers not considered to be capital are current. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)


name: Least developed countries: UN classification


name: Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)


Developmentrelevance:
Movement of people, most often through migration, is a significant part of global integration. Migrants contribute to the economies of both their host country and their country of origin. Yet reliable statistics on migration are difficult to collect and are often incomplete, making international comparisons a challenge.

In most developed countries, refugees are admitted for resettlement and are routinely included in population counts by censuses or population registers. Globally, the number of refugees at end 2010 was 10.55 million, including 597,300 people considered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to be in a refugee-like situation; developing countries hosted 8.5 million refugees, or 80 percent of the global refugee population.

Global migration patterns have become increasingly complex in modern times, involving not just refugees, but also millions of economic migrants. But refugees and migrants, even if they often travel in the same way, are fundamentally different, and for that reason are treated very differently under modern international law. Migrants, especially economic migrants, choose to move in order to improve the future prospects of themselves and their families. Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom. They have no protection from their own state - indeed it is often their own government that is threatening to persecute them. If other countries do not let them in, and do not help them once they are in, then they may be condemning them to death - or to an intolerable life in the shadows, without sustenance and without rights.

IndicatorName: Personal remittances, paid (current US$)

Limitationsandexceptions:
Remittance transactions have grown in importance over the past decade. In a number of developing economies, receipts of remittances have become an important and stable source of funds that exceeds receipts from exports of goods and services or from financial inflows on foreign direct investment. But the quality of statistical remittance data is not high. Remittances are a challenge to measure because of their nature. They are heterogeneous with numerous small transactions conducted by individuals through a wide variety of channels: formal channels, such as electronic wire, or through informal channels, such as cash or goods carried across borders. The large number of remittance transactions and the multitude of channels pose challenges to the compilation of comprehensive statistics. The small size of individual transactions means that they often go undetected by typical data source systems, although the aggregate level of transactions may be substantial.

Because of difficulties in obtaining data on informal remittance transactions, the remittance transactions undertaken through informal channels are sometimes not well covered in current balance of payments data. As a result, even though direct measurement of remittances - through transactions reporting or surveys - may be considered preferable if feasible, some countries instead combine different sources and estimation methods to achieve better coverage, by using direct measurements where practical and supplemented estimates where they are not. Model-based approaches are used in some countries as they are flexible. Compilers can design models to fill gaps in data sources or to provide global totals.

However, only reliable input data can lead to sound estimates, regardless of the sophistication of an estimation method or econometric model. Indirect data are converted to remittance estimates using a set of assumptions. These assumptions should be plausible, but it is often not possible to test or verify these assumptions and also the results in practice.

Longdefinition: Personal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Source: World Bank staff estimates based on IMF balance of payments data.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The two main components of personal remittances, "personal transfers" and "compensation of employees", are items in the balance of payments (BPM6) framework. Both of these standard components are recorded in the current account.
"Personal transfers," a new item in the Balance of Payments (BPM6) represents a broader definition of worker remittances. Personal transfers include all current transfers in cash or in kind between resident and nonresident individuals, independent of the source of income of the sender (irrespective of whether the sender receives income from labor, entrepreneurial or property income, social benefits, and any other types of transfers; or disposes assets) and the relationship between the households (irrespective of whether they are related or unrelated individuals).

Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Compensation of employees represents remuneration in return for the labor input to the production process contributed by an individual in an employer-employee relationship with the enterprise. Compensation of employees is recorded gross and includes amounts paid by the employee as taxes or for other purposes in the economy where the work is performed. Compensation of employees has three main components: wages and salaries in cash, wages and salaries in kind, and employers' social contributions.


name: Personal remittances, paid (current US$)

sourceNote: Personal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

sourceOrganization: World Bank staff estimates based on IMF balance of payments data.


name: East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Current account balance (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Current account balance is the sum of net exports of goods and services, net primary income, and net secondary income. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt: Balance of payments: Current account: Balances


name: Current account balance (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Current account balance is the sum of net exports of goods and services, net primary income, and net secondary income. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


Current account balance (% of GDP)

IndicatorName: Current account balance (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Current account balance is the sum of net exports of goods and services, net primary income, and net secondary income.


sourceNote: Current account balance is the sum of net exports of goods and services, net primary income, and net secondary income.


IndicatorName: Net financial account (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: The net financial account shows net acquisition and disposal of financial assets and liabilities. It measures how net lending to or borrowing from nonresidents is financed, and is conceptually equal to the sum of the balances on the current and capital accounts. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Generalcomments: Note: Data are based on the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6) and are only available from 2005 onwards. In BPM6, the headings of the financial account have been changed from credits and debits to net acquisition of financial assets and net incurrence of liabilities; i.e., all changes due to credit and debit entries are recorded on a net basis separately for financial assets and liabilities. Financial account balances are calculated as the change in assets minus the change in liabilities; signs are reversed from previous editions.


name: Net financial account (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: The net financial account shows net acquisition and disposal of financial assets and liabilities. It measures how net lending to or borrowing from nonresidents is financed, and is conceptually equal to the sum of the balances on the current and capital accounts. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Fragile and conflict affected situations


name: Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income)


name: Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)


Net primary income (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: Net primary income (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Net primary income refers to receipts and payments of employee compensation paid to nonresident workers and investment income (receipts and payments on direct investment, portfolio investment, other investments, and receipts on reserve assets). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


sourceNote: Net primary income refers to receipts and payments of employee compensation paid to nonresident workers and investment income (receipts and payments on direct investment, portfolio investment, other investments, and receipts on reserve assets). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


IndicatorName: Net trade in goods and services (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Net trade in goods and services is derived by offsetting imports of goods and services against exports of goods and services. Exports and imports of goods and services comprise all transactions involving a change of ownership of goods and services between residents of one country and the rest of the world. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Net trade in goods and services (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Net trade in goods and services is derived by offsetting imports of goods and services against exports of goods and services. Exports and imports of goods and services comprise all transactions involving a change of ownership of goods and services between residents of one country and the rest of the world. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries)


Net trade in goods (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: Net trade in goods (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Net trade in goods is the difference between exports and imports of goods. Trade in services is not included. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


sourceNote: Net trade in goods is the difference between exports and imports of goods. Trade in services is not included. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


IndicatorName: Net errors and omissions (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Net errors and omissions constitute a residual category needed to ensure that accounts in the balance of payments statement sum to zero. Net errors and omissions are derived as the balance on the financial account minus the balances on the current and capital accounts. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Net errors and omissions (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Net errors and omissions constitute a residual category needed to ensure that accounts in the balance of payments statement sum to zero. Net errors and omissions are derived as the balance on the financial account minus the balances on the current and capital accounts. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)


name: Least developed countries: UN classification


name: Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)


IndicatorName: Foreign direct investment, net (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Foreign direct investment are the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest (10 percent or more of voting stock) in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments. This series shows total net FDI. In BPM6, financial account balances are calculated as the change in assets minus the change in liabilities. Net FDI outflows are assets and net FDI inflows are liabilities. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Foreign direct investment, net (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Foreign direct investment are the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest (10 percent or more of voting stock) in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments. This series shows total net FDI. In BPM6, financial account balances are calculated as the change in assets minus the change in liabilities. Net FDI outflows are assets and net FDI inflows are liabilities. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Portfolio Investment, net (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Portfolio investment covers transactions in equity securities and debt securities. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Portfolio Investment, net (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Portfolio investment covers transactions in equity securities and debt securities. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


IndicatorName: Reserves and related items (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Reserves and related items is the net change in a country's holdings of international reserves resulting from transactions on the current, capital, and financial accounts. Reserve assets are those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for meeting balance of payments financing needs, and include holdings of monetary gold, special drawing rights (SDRs), reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other reserve assets. Also included are net credit and loans from the IMF (excluding reserve position) and total exceptional financing. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Reserves and related items (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Reserves and related items is the net change in a country's holdings of international reserves resulting from transactions on the current, capital, and financial accounts. Reserve assets are those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for meeting balance of payments financing needs, and include holdings of monetary gold, special drawing rights (SDRs), reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other reserve assets. Also included are net credit and loans from the IMF (excluding reserve position) and total exceptional financing. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Fragile and conflict affected situations


name: Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income)


name: Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)


Net secondary income (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: Net secondary income (BoP, current US$)


Net capital account (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: Net capital account (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Net capital account records acquisitions and disposals of nonproduced nonfinancial assets, such as land sold to embassies and sales of leases and licenses, as well as capital transfers, including government debt forgiveness. The use of the term capital account in this context is designed to be consistent with the System of National Accounts, which distinguishes between capital transactions and financial transactions. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


sourceNote: Net capital account records acquisitions and disposals of nonproduced nonfinancial assets, such as land sold to embassies and sales of leases and licenses, as well as capital transfers, including government debt forgiveness. The use of the term capital account in this context is designed to be consistent with the System of National Accounts, which distinguishes between capital transactions and financial transactions. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


Developmentrelevance:
DAC exists to help its members coordinate their development assistance and to encourage the expansion and improve the effectiveness of the aggregate resources flowing to recipient economies. In this capacity DAC monitors the flow of all financial resources, but its main concern is official development assistance (ODA). Grants or loans to countries and territories on the DAC list of aid recipients have to meet three criteria to be counted as ODA. They are provided by official agencies, including state and local governments, or by their executive agencies. They promote economic development and welfare as the main objective. And they are provided on concessional financial terms (loans must have a grant element of at least 25 percent, calculated at a discount rate of 10 percent). The DAC Statistical Reporting Directives provide the most detailed explanation of this definition and all ODA-related rules.

OECD's IDS database provides a set of readily available basic data that enables analysis on where aid goes, what purposes it serves and what policies it aims to implement, on a comparable basis for all DAC members. The aid data is most commonly used to analyze the sectoral and geographical breakdown of aid for selected years and donors or groups of donors. The data can also be used to target specific policy issues (e.g. tying status of aid) and monitor donors' compliance with various international recommendations in the field of development co-operation.

IndicatorName: Grants, excluding technical cooperation (BoP, current US$)

Limitationsandexceptions:
Data on ODA is for aid-receiving countries. The data cover loans and grants from DAC member countries, multilateral organizations, and non-DAC donors. They do not reflect aid given by recipient countries to other developing countries. As a result, some countries that are net donors (such as Saudi Arabia) are shown as aid recipients. The indicator does not distinguish types of aid (program, project, or food aid; emergency assistance; or post-conflict peacekeeping assistance), which may have different effects on the economy.

Because the indicator relies on information from donors, it is not necessarily consistent with information recorded by recipients in the balance of payments, which often excludes all or some technical assistance - particularly payments to expatriates made directly by the donor. Similarly, grant commodity aid may not always be recorded in trade data or in the balance of payments. Moreover, DAC statistics exclude aid for military and antiterrorism purposes.

The aggregates refer to World Bank classifications of economies and therefore may differ from those of the OECD.

Longdefinition: Grants are defined as legally binding commitments that obligate a specific value of funds available for disbursement for which there is no repayment requirement. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Source: World Bank, International Debt Statistics, and OECD.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Grants are transfers made in cash, goods or services for which no repayment is required. Data excludes technical cooperation grants. The flows of official and private financial resources from the members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to developing economies are compiled by DAC, based principally on reporting by DAC members using standard questionnaires issued by the DAC Secretariat. A network of statistical correspondents collects data from aid agencies and government departments (central, state and local) on an ongoing basis. Their task is also to ensure that reporting conforms to the Reporting Directives (definitions and classifications) agreed by the DAC.

The official development assistance (ODA) estimates are published annually at the end of the calendar year in International Development Statistics (IDS) database. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt: Balance of payments: Reserves & other items

value: Aid Effectiveness


name: Grants, excluding technical cooperation (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Grants are defined as legally binding commitments that obligate a specific value of funds available for disbursement for which there is no repayment requirement. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

sourceOrganization: World Bank, International Debt Statistics, and OECD.


name: Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Technical cooperation grants (BoP, current US$)

Limitationsandexceptions:
Data on ODA is for aid-receiving countries. The data cover loans and grants from DAC member countries, multilateral organizations, and non-DAC donors. They do not reflect aid given by recipient countries to other developing countries. As a result, some countries that are net donors (such as Saudi Arabia) are shown as aid recipients. The indicator does not distinguish types of aid (program, project, or food aid; emergency assistance; or post-conflict peacekeeping assistance), which may have different effects on the economy.

Because this indicator relies on information from donors, it is not necessarily consistent with information recorded by recipients in the balance of payments, which often excludes all or some technical assistance - particularly payments to expatriates made directly by the donor. Similarly, grant commodity aid may not always be recorded in trade data or in the balance of payments. Moreover, DAC statistics exclude aid for military and antiterrorism purposes.

The aggregates refer to World Bank classifications of economies and therefore may differ from those of the OECD.

Longdefinition: Technical cooperation grants include free-standing technical cooperation grants, which are intended to finance the transfer of technical and managerial skills or of technology for the purpose of building up general national capacity without reference to any specific investment projects; and investment-related technical cooperation grants, which are provided to strengthen the capacity to execute specific investment projects. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Technical cooperation contributions take the form mainly of the supply of human resources from donors or action directed to human resources (such as training or advice). Also included are aid for promoting development awareness and aid provided to refugees in the donor economy. Assistance specifically to facilitate a capital project is not included. Technical cooperation ncludes both grants to nationals of aid recipient countries receiving education or training at home or abroad and payments to consultants, advisers and similar personnel as well as teachers and administrators serving in recipient countries (including the cost of associated equipment).

The flows of official and private financial resources from the members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to developing economies are compiled by DAC, based principally on reporting by DAC members using standard questionnaires issued by the DAC Secretariat. A network of statistical correspondents collects data from aid agencies and government departments (central, state and local) on an ongoing basis. Their task is also to ensure that reporting conforms to the Reporting Directives (definitions and classifications) agreed by the DAC.

The official development assistance (ODA) estimates are published annually at the end of the calendar year in International Development Statistics (IDS) database. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Technical cooperation grants (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Technical cooperation grants include free-standing technical cooperation grants, which are intended to finance the transfer of technical and managerial skills or of technology for the purpose of building up general national capacity without reference to any specific investment projects; and investment-related technical cooperation grants, which are provided to strengthen the capacity to execute specific investment projects. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)


name: Least developed countries: UN classification


name: Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)


ICT service exports (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: ICT service exports (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Information and communication technology service exports include computer and communications services (telecommunications and postal and courier services) and information services (computer data and news-related service transactions). Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Topic: Infrastructure: Communications

value: Infrastructure


sourceNote: Information and communication technology service exports include computer and communications services (telecommunications and postal and courier services) and information services (computer data and news-related service transactions). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


Developmentrelevance: The balance of payments records an economy's transactions with the rest of the world. Balance of payments accounts are divided into two groups: the current account, which records transactions in goods, services, income, and current transfers, and the capital and financial account, which records capital transfers, acquisition or disposal of non-produced, nonfinancial assets, and transactions in financial assets and liabilities.

IndicatorName: ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Information and communication technology service exports include computer and communications services (telecommunications and postal and courier services) and information services (computer data and news-related service transactions).

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions.

The concepts and definitions underlying the data are based on the sixth edition of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Balance of Payments Manual.


name: ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP)

sourceNote: Information and communication technology service exports include computer and communications services (telecommunications and postal and courier services) and information services (computer data and news-related service transactions).


name: East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Communications, computer, etc. (% of service exports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Communications, computer, information, and other services cover international telecommunications; computer data; news-related service transactions between residents and nonresidents; construction services; royalties and license fees; miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services; personal, cultural, and recreational services; manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others; and maintenance and repair services and government services not included elsewhere.


name: Communications, computer, etc. (% of service exports, BoP)

sourceNote: Communications, computer, information, and other services cover international telecommunications; computer data; news-related service transactions between residents and nonresidents; construction services; royalties and license fees; miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services; personal, cultural, and recreational services; manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others; and maintenance and repair services and government services not included elsewhere.


IndicatorName: Primary income receipts (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Primary income receipts refer to employee compensation paid to resident workers working abroad and investment income (receipts on direct investment, portfolio investment, other investments, and receipts on reserve assets). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Primary income receipts (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Primary income receipts refer to employee compensation paid to resident workers working abroad and investment income (receipts on direct investment, portfolio investment, other investments, and receipts on reserve assets). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Fragile and conflict affected situations


name: Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income)


IndicatorName: Exports of goods and services (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Exports of goods and services comprise all transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world involving a change of ownership from residents to nonresidents of general merchandise, net exports of goods under merchanting, nonmonetary gold, and services. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Exports of goods and services (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Exports of goods and services comprise all transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world involving a change of ownership from residents to nonresidents of general merchandise, net exports of goods under merchanting, nonmonetary gold, and services. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)


name: Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Insurance and financial services (% of service exports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Insurance and financial services cover various types of insurance provided to nonresidents by resident insurance enterprises and vice versa, and financial intermediary and auxiliary services (except those of insurance enterprises and pension funds) exchanged between residents and nonresidents.


name: Insurance and financial services (% of service exports, BoP)

sourceNote: Insurance and financial services cover various types of insurance provided to nonresidents by resident insurance enterprises and vice versa, and financial intermediary and auxiliary services (except those of insurance enterprises and pension funds) exchanged between residents and nonresidents.


name: Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)


name: Least developed countries: UN classification


name: Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)


Goods exports (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: Goods exports (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Goods exports refer to all movable goods (including nonmonetary gold and net exports of goods under merchanting) involved in a change of ownership from residents to nonresidents. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Generalcomments: Note: Data are based on the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6) and are only available from 2005 onwards. Merchanting is reclassified from services to goods.


sourceNote: Goods exports refer to all movable goods (including nonmonetary gold and net exports of goods under merchanting) involved in a change of ownership from residents to nonresidents. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


Service exports (BoP, current US$)

IndicatorName: Service exports (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Services refer to economic output of intangible commodities that may be produced, transferred, and consumed at the same time. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


sourceNote: Services refer to economic output of intangible commodities that may be produced, transferred, and consumed at the same time. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


IndicatorName: Charges for the use of intellectual property, receipts (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Charges for the use of intellectual property are payments and receipts between residents and nonresidents for the authorized use of proprietary rights (such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial processes and designs including trade secrets, and franchises) and for the use, through licensing agreements, of produced originals or prototypes (such as copyrights on books and manuscripts, computer software, cinematographic works, and sound recordings) and related rights (such as for live performances and television, cable, or satellite broadcast). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Charges for the use of intellectual property, receipts (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Charges for the use of intellectual property are payments and receipts between residents and nonresidents for the authorized use of proprietary rights (such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial processes and designs including trade secrets, and franchises) and for the use, through licensing agreements, of produced originals or prototypes (such as copyrights on books and manuscripts, computer software, cinematographic works, and sound recordings) and related rights (such as for live performances and television, cable, or satellite broadcast). Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Exports of goods, services and primary income (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Exports of goods, services and primary income is the sum of goods exports, service exports and primary income receipts. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Exports of goods, services and primary income (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Exports of goods, services and primary income is the sum of goods exports, service exports and primary income receipts. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

name: East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Transport services (% of service exports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Transport covers all transport services (sea, air, land, internal waterway, pipeline, space and electricity transmission) performed by residents of one economy for those of another and involving the carriage of passengers, the movement of goods (freight), rental of carriers with crew, and related support and auxiliary services. Also included are postal and courier services. Excluded are freight insurance (included in insurance services); goods procured in ports by nonresident carriers (included in goods); maintenance and repairs on transport equipment (included in maintenance and repair services n.i.e.); and repairs of railway facilities, harbors, and airfield facilities (included in construction).


name: Transport services (% of service exports, BoP)

sourceNote: Transport covers all transport services (sea, air, land, internal waterway, pipeline, space and electricity transmission) performed by residents of one economy for those of another and involving the carriage of passengers, the movement of goods (freight), rental of carriers with crew, and related support and auxiliary services. Also included are postal and courier services. Excluded are freight insurance (included in insurance services); goods procured in ports by nonresident carriers (included in goods); maintenance and repairs on transport equipment (included in maintenance and repair services n.i.e.); and repairs of railway facilities, harbors, and airfield facilities (included in construction).


name: Fragile and conflict affected situations


name: Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income)


IndicatorName: Travel services (% of service exports, BoP)

Longdefinition: Travel covers goods and services acquired from an economy by travelers for their own use during visits of less than one year in that economy for either business or personal purposes. Travel includes local transport (i.e., transport within the economy being visited and provided by a resident of that economy), but excludes international transport (which is included in passenger transport. Travel also excludes goods for resale, which are included in general merchandise.


name: Travel services (% of service exports, BoP)

sourceNote: Travel covers goods and services acquired from an economy by travelers for their own use during visits of less than one year in that economy for either business or personal purposes. Travel includes local transport (i.e., transport within the economy being visited and provided by a resident of that economy), but excludes international transport (which is included in passenger transport. Travel also excludes goods for resale, which are included in general merchandise.


IndicatorName: Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in the reporting economy. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and other capital. Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. Ownership of 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares of voting stock is the criterion for determining the existence of a direct investment relationship. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

name: Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)


name: Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in the reporting economy. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and other capital. Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. Ownership of 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares of voting stock is the criterion for determining the existence of a direct investment relationship. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Foreign direct investment are the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest (10 percent or more of voting stock) in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments. This series shows net inflows (new investment inflows less disinvestment) in the reporting economy from foreign investors, and is divided by GDP.

Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and Balance of Payments databases, World Bank, International Debt Statistics, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.


name: Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP)

sourceNote: Foreign direct investment are the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest (10 percent or more of voting stock) in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments. This series shows net inflows (new investment inflows less disinvestment) in the reporting economy from foreign investors, and is divided by GDP.

sourceOrganization: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and Balance of Payments databases, World Bank, International Debt Statistics, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.


name: Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)


name: Least developed countries: UN classification


name: Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)


name: East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Portfolio equity, net inflows (BoP, current US$)

Limitationsandexceptions:
Portfolio investors typically have less of a role in the decision making of the enterprise with potentially important implications for future flows and for the volatility of the price and volume of positions. Portfolio investment differs from other investment in that it provides a direct way to access financial markets, and thus it can provide liquidity and flexibility. It is associated with financial markets and with their specialized service providers, such as exchanges, dealers, and regulators. The nature of financial derivatives as instruments through which risk is traded in its own right in financial markets sets them apart from other types of investment. Whereas other instruments may also have risk transfer elements, these other instruments also provide financial or other resources.

The volume of global private financial flows reported by the World Bank generally differs from that reported by other sources because of differences in sources, classification of economies, and method used to adjust and disaggregate reported information. In addition, particularly for debt financing, differences may also reflect how some installments of the transactions and certain offshore issuances are treated.

Data on equity flows are shown for all countries for which data are available.

Longdefinition: Portfolio equity includes net inflows from equity securities other than those recorded as direct investment and including shares, stocks, depository receipts (American or global), and direct purchases of shares in local stock markets by foreign investors. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments database, and World Bank, International Debt Statistics.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Data on equity flows are based on balance of payments data reported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Portfolio equity investment is defined as cross-border transactions and positions involving equity securities, other than those included in direct investment or reserve assets. Equity securities are equity instruments that are negotiable and designed to be traded, usually on organized exchanges or "over the counter." The negotiability of securities facilitates trading, allowing securities to be held by different parties during their lives. Negotiability allows investors to diversify their portfolios and to withdraw their investment readily. Included in portfolio investment are investment fund shares or units (that is, those issued by investment funds) that are evidenced by securities and that are not reserve assets or direct investment. Although they are negotiable instruments, exchange-traded financial derivatives are not included in portfolio investment because they are in their own category.


name: Portfolio equity, net inflows (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Portfolio equity includes net inflows from equity securities other than those recorded as direct investment and including shares, stocks, depository receipts (American or global), and direct purchases of shares in local stock markets by foreign investors. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

sourceOrganization: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments database, and World Bank, International Debt Statistics.


name: East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Secondary income receipts (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Secondary income refers to transfers recorded in the balance of payments whenever an economy provides or receives goods, services, income, or financial items without a quid pro quo. All transfers not considered to be capital are current. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Secondary income receipts (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Secondary income refers to transfers recorded in the balance of payments whenever an economy provides or receives goods, services, income, or financial items without a quid pro quo. All transfers not considered to be capital are current. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Fragile and conflict affected situations


name: Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income)


IndicatorName: Personal transfers, receipts (BoP, current US$)

Longdefinition: Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Personal transfers, receipts (BoP, current US$)

sourceNote: Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)


IndicatorName: Personal remittances, received (current US$)

Longdefinition: Personal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The two main components of personal remittances, "personal transfers" and "compensation of employees", are items in the balance of payments (BPM6) framework. Both of these standard components are recorded in the current account.
"Personal transfers", a new item in the Balance of Payments (BPM6) represents a broader definition of worker remittances. Personal transfers include all current transfers in cash or in kind between resident and nonresident individuals, independent of the source of income of the sender (irrespective of whether the sender receives income from labor, entrepreneurial or property income, social benefits, and any other types of transfers; or disposes assets) and the relationship between the households (irrespective of whether they are related or unrelated individuals).

Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Compensation of employees represents remuneration in return for the labor input to the production process contributed by an individual in an employer-employee relationship with the enterprise. Compensation of employees is recorded gross and includes amounts paid by the employee as taxes or for other purposes in the economy where the work is performed. Compensation of employees has three main components: wages and salaries in cash, wages and salaries in kind, and employers' social contributions.

Othernotes:
Basis and definition: The data on remittance flows are based on officially reported data in the IMF Balance of Payments. Each country reports these data according to the IMF Balance of Payments Manual 6. Each country reports these data according to the IMF Balance of Payments Manual 6. Remittances are defined as the sum of two components: (a) “personal transfers” recorded under the “secondary income” category of the current account; (b) “compensation of employees,” which includes wages, salaries, and other benefits of border, seasonal, and any other nonresident workers (such as local staff of embassies) and which are recorded under the “primary income” category of the current account.

Remittances are known to be underestimated significantly in the balance of payments statistics of the IMF. There are a couple of reasons that officially reported data on remittance might not correctly capture the full extent of money transfer activities. First, the above definition does not include transfers through informal channels—such as hand-carries by friends or family, or in-kind remittances of jewelry, clothes, and other consumer goods, or through hawala. These are believed to be significant portions of total remittances in many countries. If and when they are recorded, it is not clear to what extent they reflect actual transfers rather than imports. Second, in many countries, nonresident deposits, although classified under the capital account, may in part reflect workers’ remittances. For example, the nonresidential rupee deposits in India are most likely remittances disguised as deposits—upon maturity, they do not return to the nonresident depositor because the rupee is not convertible into hard currency.

Caveats: There are several caveats relating to some adjustments made to the remittance data presented here. The caveats attached to our remittance data are:

(a) For some countries, data on remittance has been missing over several years. Missing value can significantly affect the result of data analysis of our time series data; thus, we use the Last Observation Carried Forward (LOCF) and Next Observation Carried Backward (NOCB) methods. These methods replace missing values either with the immediately preceding observed value or the subsequent observed value. These are potentially useful for time series data but may introduce bias if the data isn’t stationary.

(b) For several countries, including China, Portugal, Spain, and Vietnam, the ratio of personal transfers to the current transfer total under the secondary income has been used in the past to estimate personal transfer data since disaggregated current transfer data is unavailable. However, only what’s presented in the IMF BOP will be used (along with historical data).

(c) For Israel and Zimbabwe, the IMF’s BOP data is complemented with the central bank data. For Israel, personal transfer data from the central bank are being used due to their absence in the IMF’s BOP presentation. For Zimbabwe, remittance data have not been reported in the IMF’s BOP since 2020; thus, central bank data are being used from 2021 onwards.

(d) For the current year estimates of remittance flows, high-frequency data from central banks are being used to fill gaps in data. A few dozen central banks report monthly remittance data, mostly consistent with BOP-reported data. The list includes Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Rep., El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Jamaica, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, the Philippines, Serbia, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine.


name: Personal remittances, received (current US$)

sourceNote: Personal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees. Data are in current U.S. dollars.


name: Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries)


IndicatorName: Personal remittances, received (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Personal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees.

Source: World Bank staff estimates based on IMF balance of payments data, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.


name: Personal remittances, received (% of GDP)

sourceNote: Personal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees.

sourceOrganization: World Bank staff estimates based on IMF balance of payments data, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.


name: Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income)


name: Least developed countries: UN classification


name: Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)


Control of Corruption: Estimate

IndicatorName: Control of Corruption: Estimate

Longdefinition: Control of Corruption captures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as "capture" of the state by elites and private interests. Estimate gives the country's score on the aggregate indicator, in units of a standard normal distribution, i.e. ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5.

Source: Detailed documentation of the WGI, interactive tools for exploring the data, and full access to the underlying source data available at www.govindicators.org.The WGI are produced by Daniel Kaufmann (Natural Resource Governance Institute and Brookings Institution) and Aart Kraay (World Bank Development Research Group).  Please cite Kaufmann, Daniel, Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi (2010).  "The Worldwide Governance Indicators:  Methodology and Analytical Issues".  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5430 (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1682130).  The WGI do not reflect the official views of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the Brookings Institution, the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.

Topic: Public Sector: Policy & institutions

Othernotes: The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) are a research dataset summarizing the views on the quality of governance provided by a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. These data are gathered from a number of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and private sector firms. The WGI do not reflect the official views of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the Brookings Institution, the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. The WGI are not used by the World Bank Group to allocate resources.

Relatedsourcelinks: Worldwide Governance Indicators website (https://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/)

sourceOrganization: Detailed documentation of the WGI, interactive tools for exploring the data, and full access to the underlying source data available at www.govindicators.org. The WGI are produced by Daniel Kaufmann (Natural Resource Governance Institute and Brookings Institution) and Aart Kraay (World Bank Development Research Group).  Please cite Kaufmann, Daniel, Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi (2010).  "The Worldwide Governance Indicators:  Methodology and Analytical Issues".  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5430 (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1682130).  The WGI do not reflect the official views of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the Brookings Institution, the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.

value: Public Sector


sourceNote: Control of Corruption captures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as "capture" of the state by elites and private interests. Estimate gives the country's score on the aggregate indicator, in units of a standard normal distribution, i.e. ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5.


name: East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income)


name: Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)