on of a GDP estimate in domestic currency by the
corresponding PPP estimate in dollars gives the PPP conversion rate.
When converted at PPP rates, $1,000 will buy the same market basket of
goods in any country. Whereas PPP estimates for OECD countries are
quite reliable, PPP estimates for developing countries are often rough
approximations. Most of the GDP estimates are based on extrapolation
of PPP numbers published by the UN International Comparison Program
(UNICP) and by Professors Robert Summers and Alan Heston of the
University of Pennsylvania and their colleagues. In contrast, currency
exchange rates depend on a variety of international and domestic
financial forces that often have little relation to domestic output.
In developing countries with weak currencies the exchange rate
estimate of GDP in dollars is typically one-fourth to one-half the PPP
estimate. Furthermore, exchange rates may suddenly go up or down by
10% or more because of market forces or official fiat whereas real
output has remained unchanged. On 12 January 1994, for example, the 14
countries of the African Financial Community (whose currencies are
tied to the French franc) devalued their currencies by 50%. This move,
of course, did not cut the real output of these countries by half. One
important caution: the proportion of, say, defense expenditures as a
percentage of GDP in local currency accounts may differ substantially
from the proportion when GDP accounts are expressed in PPP terms, as,
for example, when an observer tries to estimate the dollar level of
Russian or Japanese military expenditures. Note: the numbers for GDP
and other economic data can not be chained together from successive
volumes of the Factbook because of changes in the US dollar measuring
rod, revisions of data by statistical agencies, use of new or
different sources of information, and changes in national statistical
methods and practices. For statistical series on GDP and other
economic variables, see the [1]Handbook of International Economic
Statistics available from the same sources as The World Factbook.

GDP--composition by sector: This entry gives the percentage
contribution of agriculture, industry, and services to total GDP.

GDP--per capita: This entry shows GDP on a purchasing power parity
basis divided by population as of 1 July for the same year.

GDP--real growth rate: This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis
adjusted for inflation and expressed as a