World Economic and Financial Surveys

World Economic Outlook

Database—WEO Groups and Aggregates Information

October 2009

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. Rather than being based on strict criteria, economic or otherwise, this classification has evolved over time with the objective of facilitating analysis by providing a reasonably meaningful organization of data.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Eritrea, Iraq, Liberia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Timor-Leste are included in the regional and analytical group compositions. Zimbabwe has been returned to the group compositions as a result of recent price stabilization, which facilitates the measurement of macroeconomic variables and allows for cross-country data comparisons. Georgia officially withdrew from the Commonwealth of Independent States on August 18, 2009, but is included in that group for reasons of geography and similarities in economic structure.

Some countries 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, Kosovo, 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

   Africa
      Africa: Sub-Sahara
   Central and eastern Europe
   Commonwealth of Independent States
   Developing Asia
      ASEAN-5
   Middle East
   Western Hemisphere

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

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

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

Emerging and Developing Economies

Afghanistan, Rep. of Albania Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Azerbaijan Bahamas, the Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Botswana Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Rep. of Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Eritrea Ethiopia Fiji Gabon	Gambia, The Georgia Ghana Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary India Indonesia Iran, I.R. of Iraq Jamaica Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyz Republic Lao PDR Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Lithuania Macedonia, FYR Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique, Rep. of 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, Dem. Rep. of Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Rep. Boliv. de Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Africa

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

Africa, Sub-Sahara
Africa excluding Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Central and eastern Europe

Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Estonia Hungary Latvia	Lithuania Macedonia, FYR 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, Rep. of Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Darussalam Cambodia China Fiji India Indonesia Kiribati Lao PDR Malaysia Maldives	Myanmar Nepal Pakistan Papua New Guinea Philippines Samoa Solomon Islands Sri Lanka Thailand Timor-Leste, Dem. Rep. of Tonga Vanuatu Vietnam

ASEAN-5

Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam

Middle East

Bahrain Egypt Iran, I.R. of Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon	Libya Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Syrian Arab Rep. United Arab Emirates Yemen

Western Hemisphere

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, Rep. Boliv. de

WEO Aggregates

Composite data for country groups in the World Economic Outlook are either sums or weighted averages of data for individual countries. Arithmetically weighted averages are used for all data except inflation for the other emerging market and developing country group, for which geometric averages are used. The following conventions apply.

Country group composites for interest rates 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 purchasing power parities (PPPs) as a share of total world or group GDP. Annual inflation rates are simple percent change from previous years, except for other emerging market and developing countries where the rates are based on logarithmic differences (see the FAQ for more details).
Composites for data relating to the domestic economy for the euro area (16 member countries throughout the entire period unless otherwise noted) are aggregates of national source data using GDP weights. Annual data are not adjusted for calendar day effects. For data prior to 1999, data aggregation apply 1995 European Currency exchange rates.
Composite unemployment rates 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 percentage 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).