What does GDP mean in economics?

A container ship heading into the United States port at Seattle, Washington. Gross domestic product, or GDP, represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced in a country in a given period. GDP is often used to track the growth of a country’s economy. Officials associate the number with prosperity when it is high.

What is the difference between GDP and gross national product?

While GDP measures the economic activity within the physical borders of a country (whether the producers are native to that country or foreign-owned entities), gross national product (GNP) is a measurement of the overall production of people or corporations native to a country, including those based abroad.

What is per-capita GDP?

Per-capita GDP is often analyzed alongside more traditional measures of GDP. Economists use this metric for insight into their own country’s domestic productivity and the productivity of other countries. Per-capita GDP considers both a country’s GDP and its population.

Does GDP measure economic success?

GDP increases when a country has a positive trade balance or surplus. However, GDP decreases when a country spends more money importing goods and products than it makes exporting goods and products, which leads to a trade deficit. There have been conflicting studies on whether or not GDP actually measures economic success.