Gross domestic product (GDP) and main economic aggregates in 2018 National accounts - 2014 Base
The gross domestic product (GDP) is the main aggregate measuring the economic activity. It is equal to the sum of the gross value added of all the resident institutional units engaged in production, a given year, recorded at market prices.
It measures the new wealth created each year by the resident productive activities and allows international comparisons.
The GDP is published at current prices and in volume at chained prices. Its change in volume measures the economic growth. Its price index measures the price evolution of its components.
The main economic aggregates associated with the GDP give an overview of the evolution of the institutional sectors.
Warning
For Tables 1.108 to 1.109p, data for sub-sectors of general government (S13) is only available for the period 2006-2017.
Each year in September, the public deficit of the previous year is updated to take into account, in particular, the latest data from the social security accounts. The surplus of social security funds in 2018 is thus revised downwards by €0.2 billion and now stands at €10.6 billion (compared with €10.8 billion in the data published in May 2019).
The government deficit is revised to €69.8 billion (compared with €69.9 billion in the May 2019 data) as a result of two opposing revisions: increase in VAT refunds and rebates (€1.3 billion) and taking into account the repayment by EDF of "State aid" (€1.4 billion). Indeed, in 2015, the Commission considered that a waived tax claims (occurred in 1997) was a State aid. EDF had then reimbursed the State in 2015 but appealed this decision to the European Court of Justice, which led, in accordance with national accounting rules, to neutralise the revenue in 2015 until the final court decision was taken in 2018.
In total, the public deficit stands at €59.5 billion, unchanged compared to the data published in May 2019.
Table 1.113 is accordingly modified.
In addition to the publication of May 30, 2019, this update concerns the publication of the table 1.116 explaining how to obtain Gross national income (GNI) notified to the European commission from GNI published in table 1.115.
Pour comprendre
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product is the main aggregate that measures a country's economic activity. It is the sum of the gross value-added newly created by the resident economic units of this country in a given year, valued at market prices.
It gives a measure of the new wealth created each year by the country's production system and enables international comparisons.
Gross domestic product is published at current prices and in volume at the chained prices of the previous year. Its change in volume (i.e. excluding price effects) measures economic growth. Its price index reflects the price evolution of all its components.
It can be calculated using three different approaches.
"Production" approach
GDP is the sum of gross value-added at basic price (equal to total output at basic price minus intermediate consumptions at purchaser's price), plus taxes on products (including VAT), minus subsidies on products:
GDP = Gross value-added at basic price (B1g) + Taxes on products (D21) - Subsidies on products (D31).
"Demand" approach
GDP is the sum of final domestic uses (final consumption, gross capital formation), plus exports and minus imports:
GDP = Final consumption expenditures (P3) + Gross capital formation (P5) + Exports (P6) - Imports (P7).
"Income" approach
GDP is the sum of primary incomes directly generated by production: payment of employees, operating surplus and mixed income, taxes on production and imports, net of subsidies
GDP = Compensation of employees (D1) + Gross operating surplus and gross mixed income (B2g + B3g) + Taxes on production and imports (D2) - Subsidies (D3).
Contributions to changes in gross domestic product (GDP)
The change in gross domestic product can be broken down as the sum of contributions by its various components: final consumption expenditures, gross capital formation, and trade balance.
For a given year, the contribution of a component to the change in gross domestic product is equal to the product of the annual growth rate of this component and its weight in gross domestic product the previous year.
Value added
Domestic employment, measured by number of people, includes all physical persons, whether residents or not, employed in a resident production unit. It includes non-residents and seasonal employees working on the economic territory and excludes residents working outside the economic territory. The number of jobs is an annual average. All types of jobs are counted, including short-term employment.
Domestic employment is calculated in "physical persons" and "full-time equivalents".
Domestic employment in "physical persons" counts all people in declared full-time or part-time employment. Domestic employment in "full-time equivalents" is estimated on the basis of the number of physical persons, taking account of the average duration of part-time work, the average proportion of people in part-time employment and of undeclared work.
Domestic employment is broken down by branch and by institutional sector.
Net lending (+) / borrowing (-)
Net lending/borrowing (B9NF) is the balancing item of the capital account. The capital account records acquisitions less disposals of non-financial assets owned by resident economic units and measures changes in assets due to saving and to capital transfers.
This balancing item is calculated as gross saving (B8g) plus net capital transfers (received (D9r) minus paid (D9p) and minus accumulation expenditures: gross fixed capital formation (P51g), change in inventories (P53), acquisitions less disposals of valuables (P53) and of non-produced assets (land,...) (NP).
If this balancing item is positive, it shows a lending capacity; when negative, it shows a borrowing need.
It can be calculated for resident economic units and for the institutional sectors to which they belong.
Gross domestic income
Gross domestic income is the sum of all primary (gross) incomes received by resident economic units : gross operating surplus (B2g), gross mixed income (B3g), compensation of employees (D1), taxes net of subsidies on production and imports (D2-D3), property income received minus that paid (D4).
It is equal to gross domestic product (GDP) minus the primary incomes paid to non-resident economic units plus the primary incomes received by resident units from the rest of the world.
It gives a measure of the primary incomes received by all resident economic units and enables international comparisons.