World Economic and Financial Surveys

World Economic Outlook

Database—WEO Groups and Aggregates Information

October 2010

Country Composition of WEO Groups

The country classification in the World Economic Outlook divides the world into two major groups: advanced economies and emerging and developing economies. Please refer to the introduction to the WEO's Statistical Appendix for details. This classification is not based on strict criteria, economic or otherwise, but instead has evolved over time with the objective of facilitating analysis by providing a reasonably meaningful organization of the data.

The emerging and developing economies’ Western Hemisphere region has been renamed Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

Some economies remain outside the country classification and therefore are not included in the analysis. Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are not IMF members, and their economies therefore are not monitored by the IMF. San Marino is omitted from the group of advanced economies for lack of a fully developed database. Likewise, Aruba, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and Somalia are omitted from the emerging and developing economies group because of data limitations.

Advanced Economies

   Euro Area
   Major Advanced Economies (G7)
   Newly Industrialized Asian Economies
   Other Advanced Economies (Advanced Economies excluding G7 and Euro Area)

European Union

Emerging and Developing Economies

   Central and Eastern Europe
   Commonwealth of Independent States
   Developing Asia
      ASEAN-5
   Latin America and the Caribbean
   Middle East and North Africa
   Sub-Saharan Africa

Advanced Economies

Australia Austria Belgium Canada Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong SAR	Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea Luxembourg Malta Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal	Singapore Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Province of China United Kingdom United States

Euro Area

Austria Belgium Cyprus Finland France Germany	Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands	Portugal Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain

Major Advanced Economies (G7)

Canada France Germany	Italy Japan United Kingdom	United States

Newly Industrialized Asian Economies

Hong Kong SAR Korea	Singapore Taiwan Province of China

Other Advanced Economies (Advanced Economies excluding G7 and Euro Area)

Australia Czech Republic Denmark Hong Kong SAR Iceland	Israel Korea New Zealand Norway Singapore	Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Province of China

European Union

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France	Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta	Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom

Emerging and Developing Economies

Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of Albania Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Azerbaijan Bahamas, The Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Gabon	Gambia, The Georgia Ghana Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Jamaica Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Lithuania Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Nicaragua Niger Nigeria	Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Samoa São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Solomon Islands South Africa Sri Lanka St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan Suriname Swaziland Syrian Arab Republic Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen, Republic of Zambia Zimbabwe

Central and Eastern Europe

Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Estonia Hungary Kosovo Latvia	Lithuania Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro Poland Romania Serbia Turkey

Commonwealth of Independent States

Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Georgia¹ Kazakhstan Kyrgyz Republic Moldova	Mongolia¹ Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan
¹Georgia and Mongolia, which are not members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, are included in this group for reasons of geography and similarities in economic structure.

Developing Asia

Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Darussalam Cambodia China Fiji India Indonesia Kiribati Lao People's Democratic Republic Malaysia	Maldives Myanmar Nepal Pakistan Papua New Guinea Philippines Samoa Solomon Islands Sri Lanka Thailand Timor-Leste Tonga Vanuatu Vietnam

ASEAN-5

Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam

Latin America and the Caribbean

Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas, The Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Costa Rica Dominica	Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama	Paraguay Peru St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Uruguay Venezuela

Middle East and North Africa

Algeria Bahrain Djibouti Egypt Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya	Mauritania Morocco Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Sudan Syrian Arab Rep. Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen, Republic of

Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire Equatorial Guinea	Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia, The Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritius Mozambique Namibia	Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone South Africa Swaziland Tanzania Togo Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

WEO Aggregates

Composite data for country groups in the World Economic Outlook are either sums or weighted averages of data for individual countries. Unless noted otherwise, multiyear averages of growth rates are expressed as compound annual rates of change.¹ Arithmetically weighted averages are used for all data for the emerging and developing economies group except inflation and money growth, for which geometric averages are used. The following conventions apply, (see the FAQ for more details).

Country group composites for exchange rates, interest rates, and growth rates of monetary aggregates are weighted by GDP converted to U.S. dollars at market exchange rates (averaged over the preceding three years) as a share of group GDP.
Composites for other data relating to the domestic economy, whether growth rates or ratios, are weighted by GDP valued at PPP as a share of total world or group GDP.²
Composites for data relating to the domestic economy for the euro area (16 member countries throughout the entire period unless noted otherwise) are aggregates of national source data using GDP weights. Annual data are not adjusted for calendar-day effects. For data prior to 1999, data aggregations apply 1995 European currency unit exchange rates.
Composite unemployment rates and employment growth are weighted by labor force as a share of group labor force.
Composites relating to the external economy are sums of individual country data after conversion to U.S. dollars at the average market exchange rates in the years indicated for balance of payments data and at end-of-year market exchange rates for debt denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars. Composites of changes in foreign trade volumes and prices, however, are arithmetic averages of percent changes for individual countries weighted by the U.S. dollar value of exports or imports as a share of total world or group exports or imports (in the preceding year).
Unless noted otherwise, group composites are computed if 90 percent or more of the share of group weights is represented.

¹ Averages for real GDP and its components, employment, per capita GDP, inflation, factor productivity, trade, and commodity prices are calculated based on the compound annual rate of change, except for the unemployment rate, which is based on the simple arithmetic average.

² See Box A2 of the April 2004 World Economic Outlook for a summary of the revised PPP-based weights and Annex IV of the May 1993 World Economic Outlook. See also Anne-Marie Gulde and Marianne Schulze-Ghattas, “Purchasing Power Parity Based Weights for the World Economic Outlook,” in Staff Studies for the World Economic Outlook (International Monetary Fund, December 1993), pp. 106–23.