GDP is often used to determine how rich a country is, and therefore how wealthy its citizens are.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) represents the value of the goods and services produced by a country or region in a given period of time. Although it is usually reported annually, many countries also determine GDP on a quarterly basis. Quarterly GDP is the value of goods and services produced in a specific three-month period of a calendar year.
The calculation of the Gross Domestic Product includes the total value of all products and services in the country. Spending by individual consumers, businesses, and governments is counted in the total. The net trade balance, the value of exported goods minus the value of imported goods, is also accounted for. The quarterly GDP results also incorporate certain intangibles, such as investment income and the fair value of renting a home where the owner lives. Salaries received by someone who works outside the country are not considered for GDP purposes.
In the world of macroeconomics, there are two variations of quarterly GDP values. Nominal GDP reflects the value of goods and services at prices prevailing at the time the results are calculated. It does not include adjustments for price fluctuations over a period of time. Real GDP takes into account the effects of inflation and calculates value using prices over a predefined period of time, commonly called the base year. Real GDP values will generally be less than nominal GDP values and are used in most economic models.
Quarterly GDP results are useful as a measure of a country’s economic strength. Numbers also help measure the standard of living in a country or region. When determining the standard of living, economists usually calculate GDP per capita. This is done by dividing the total GDP by the number of people living in the country. The resulting figure indicates an average value of GDP per person.
The values found in quarterly GDP also help assess the growth rate of an economy. This could alert the government to the possible need for a change in monetary or fiscal policy. GDP assessments also serve as a good basis for comparing the size and growth rate of the economies of different countries.