Gross domestic product, or GDP, is a measure used to evaluate the health of a country’s economy. It is the total value of the goods and services produced in a country during a specific period of time, usually a year. GDP is used throughout the world as the main measure of output and economic activity.
Each country prepares and publishes its own GDP data regularly. In addition, international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund periodically publish and maintain historical GDP data for many countries. In the United States GDP data are published quarterly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
When an economy experiences several consecutive quarters of positive GDP growth, it is considered to be in an expansion (also called economic boom). Conversely, when it experiences two or more consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the economy is generally considered to be in a recession (also called economic bust). GDP per capita (also called GDP per person) is used as a measure of a country’s standard of living. A country with a higher level of GDP per capita is considered to be better off in economic terms than a country with a lower level.
GDP differs from gross national product (GNP), which includes all the goods and services produced by a country’s residents, whether the production takes place in the country or elsewhere. In 1991 the United States substituted GDP for GNP as its main measure of economic output. Because GDP included only domestic production, it was more consistent with the government’s other measures of economic output and employment. (See also economics.)
