Results of international comparisons of GDP based on purchasing power parities of currencies for 2017

The International Comparison Program based of Gross Domestic Data for 2017 (ICP 2017) is the largest international project for comparing GDPs and purchasing power parities (PPPs) of currencies where 176 countries of the world took part.

The decision to hold the ICP 2017 was taken at the 47th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. The overall coordination of the preparation and implementation of the comparison cycle was carried out by the World Bank in close partnership with international organizations and regional development banks across the world.

For the sake of efficiency, the comparison exercise under ICP 2017 was carried out on a regional basis. All participating countries were grouped into regions: CIS countries, joint OECD-Eurostat group, Asia and the Pacific, West Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the ICP 2017 cycle, the Republic of Belarus participated as part of the CIS region among such countries as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (on a pilot basis, based on actual final household consumption). In accordance with the decisions of the governing bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the CIS Statistical Committee was the coordinator of comparison exercise in the region.

The key result of the International Comparison Program is the estimation of purchasing power parities (PPPs) for all the participants of the round and the conversion of GDP as a whole and its major components into a single currency. This forms the basis for detailed comparative studies of the size and structure of economies around the world. PPPs are widely used in analytical studies, to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. A PPP is the number of local currency units needed to purchase a standard set of goods and services that can be purchased for one currency unit of the reference country (or one common currency unit of a group of countries).

According to the results of the International Comparison Program 2017, the size of the world economy in terms of PPP-based GDP of the participating countries was 119.5 trillion U.S. dollars compared to 79.7 trillion U.S. dollars measured at exchange rates. The world's two largest economies in 2017 were China and the United States of America, with PPP-based GDP of US$19.6 trillion and US$19.5 trillion respectively, accounting for a third of the world GDP (32.7%). India, the third largest economy (US$8.1 trillion), accounted for about 7% of the world GDP.

The top ten world economies in terms of PPP-based GDP after China, the United States and India also included such countries as Japan (US$5.2 trillion), Germany (US$4.4 trillion), the Russian Federation (US$3.8 trillion), the United Kingdom, Brazil, France (US$3 trillion each) and Indonesia (US$2.9 trillion). In general, these countries, which are home to more than half (55.3%) of the world's population, account for 60.7% of the world GDP.

The PPP-based GDP of Belarus is equal to 173.6 billion U.S. dollars, the share of which is 0.1% of the world GDP and 3.7% of the GDP of the CIS region. The CIS countries account for 3.9% of the world GDP.

In 2017, high income economies accounted for almost half (49%) of the world PPP-based GDP, while upper middle income economies contributed just over a third (34%) of the world GDP. All the countries participating in the CIS ICP 2017, except Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan, are part of the upper middle income group.

The average value of PPP-based GDP per capita for the world economies is 16,596 U.S. dollars. The variation for this indicator in the world is very large – from the highest income level in Luxembourg (US$112,701) to the lowest in Burundi (US$784).

Among the CIS countries, only three are above the world average in PPP-based GDP per capita: the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Belarus. PPP-based GDP per capita of Belarus in 2017 was US$18,280.

The results of international comparisons of GDP for 2017 are calculated by the World Bank and can be found in a detailed version on its website at https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp.


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