Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Business Tendency Surveys (BTS) – also called business opinion or business climate surveys – are economic surveys used to monitor and forecast business cycles. Covering 4 different economic sectors (manufacturing, construction, retail trade and services), they are designed to collect qualitative information useful in monitoring the current business situation and forecasting short-term developments by directly asking company managers about the pulse of their businesses. They are well known for providing advance warning of turning points in aggregate economic activity as measured by GDP or industrial production. As respondents provide answers on a 3 scale options (up, same, down, or above normal, normal, below normal), data are summarised in net balances corresponsing to the difference in % of positive over negative replies. Because of their collection mode, timeliness and immediate availability, they have proved to be a cost‑effective mean of generating timely information especially during crises. In the late '90, in collaboration with the European Commission, the OECD has developed a system of harmonised business tendency surveys in order to collect and compare data across countries. The EC Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs is since then in charge of running the program and collecting data across EU members, while the OECD helped the adoption and implementation of the same harmonised framework in non-EU OECD countries and BRIICS. By construction, BTS questions are formulated in order to exclude seasonal factors. Nevertheless all series are tested for seasonality by both the OECD (using x12) and by the EC for the EU member data (using DAINTIES). This dataset comprises a set of harmonised target indicators available across OECD and BRIICS countries, any departure from target definitions are documented in the metadata.

The composite leading indicator is a times series, formed by aggregating a variety of component indicators which show a reasonably consistent relationship with a reference series (e.g. industrial production IIP up to March 2012 and since then the reference series is GDP) at turning points. The OECD CLI is designed to provide qualitative information on short-term economic movements, especially at the turning points, rather than quantitative measures. Therefore, the main message of CLI movements over time is the increase or decrease, rather than the amplitude of the changes. The OECD’s headline indicator is the amplitude adjusted CLI. In practice, turning points in the de-trended reference series have been found about 4 to 8 months (on average) after the signals of turning points had been detected in the headline CLI. Detailed information on the OECD methodology for CLIs can be found on the OECD website at: OECD CLIs   CLIs are calculated for G20 countries plus Spain and 5 zone aggregates. A country CLI comprises a set of component series selected from a wide range of key short-term economic indicators. CLIs, reference series data (see below) and standardised business and consumer confidence indicators are presented in various forms.   OECD CLI methodology document   OECD statistics contact  

This dataset contains statistics on Consumer Price Indices by COICOP 1999 divisions, including national CPIs, Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICPs) and their associated weights and contributions to national year-on-year inflation. For countries for which data are already available according to the COICOP 2018 classification statistics on Consumer Price Indices can be found in dataset Consumer price indices (CPIs, HICPs), COICOP 2018. The data series presented have been chosen as the most relevant prices statistics for which comparable data across countries is available. Data are available monthly for all the countries except for Australia and New Zealand (quarterly data).

1. ccTLDs stands for country code top-level domains. 2. gTLDs - stands for generic top-level domains.

National currencies are converted in United States dollars (USD) using IMF monthly average conversion rates.

Financial Indicators aim to capture in quantitative terms an important but heterogeneous and fast evolving area. Key factors driving this change are: globalisation of the financial markets; maturing of national financial markets and therefore the structure of these markets required to service their needs; increased sophistication of the actors in these markets; rapid technological change; and evolving regulatory frameworks. Financial institutions react and adapt to these conditions by changing their strategies; by specialising, by diversifying or concentrating their activities, and by extending through mergers and acquisitions. As a consequence, there is almost constant evolution in the institutional structures in which financial markets operate.   OECD statistics contact   Statistics and Data Directorate

The infra-annual labour statistics dataset contains predominantly monthly and quarterly labour statistics, and associated statistical methodological information, for the OECD member countries and selected other economies. It covers countries that compile labour statistics from sample household surveys on a monthly or quarterly basis. It is widely accepted that household surveys are the best source for labour market key statistics. In such surveys, information is collected from people living in households through a representative sample and the surveys are based on standard methodology and procedures used internationally. The subjects available cover: working age population by age; active and inactive labour force by age; employment by economic activity, by working time and by status; and, unemployment (including monthly unemployment) by age and by duration. Data is expressed in levels (thousands of persons) or rates (e.g. employment rate) where applicable. The relationship between these several measures are as follow: • Working age population = Labour force population + Inactive population • Labour force population = Employed population + Unemployed population • Employment rate = Employed population / Working age population • Unemployment rate = Unemployed population / Labour force population • Labour force participation rate = Labour force population / Working age population The infra-annual labour statistics compiled for all OECD member countries, are drawn from Labour Force Surveys based on definition provided by the 19th Conference of Labour Statisticians in 2013. The uniform application of these definitions across all OECD member countries results in estimates that are internationally comparable.

The Registered Unemployment and Job Vacancies statistics is a subset of the Infra-annual Labour Force Statistics database, which contains predominantly quarterly and monthly statistics, and associated statistical methodological information, for the OECD member countries and selected other economies. There are basically two sources for unemployment statistics: labour force surveys and administrative data. Surveys are based on standard methodology and procedures used all over the world while administrative data are subject to national legislations which evolve through time. Consequently registered unemployment data are not comparable across countries. The relationship between survey and registered unemployment is not the same for all countries. Number of registered unemployed persons and registered unemployment rates are presented here because they are monthly and quickly available after their reference period. The job vacancies data provides estimates of the number of unfilled job vacancies across national economies. Series give an indication of the labour demand while the unemployment is linked with the labour supply.

The International Transport Forum collects, on a quarterly basis, monthly data from all its Member countries. When monthly information is not available then quarterly data is provided. The survey contains a dozen variables selected for their quarterly availability among reporting countries. Data are collected from Transport Ministries, statistical offices and other institution designated as official data source. The survey used for this exercise is the ITF "Quarterly Transport Statistics". Variables collected are rail, road and inland waterways goods transport (T-km), rail passengers (P-km), road traffic (V-km), first registration of brand new vehicles, petrol deliveries to the road transport sector and road fatalities. Although there are clear definitions for all the terms used in this survey, countries might have different methodologies to gather or estimate quarterly data. The information provided in short-term surveys does not necessarily have the same coverage as annual data exercises and therefore remains provisional. Depending on countries, data is not always revised so totals might not correspond to the sum of the elements. The main purpose of this data collection is to identify in advance changes in transport data trends. In case of missing data for a country, ITF can calculate estimates based generally on growth rates from previous years or from data available from other sources. These estimates are used solely to calculate aggregated trends in graphic representations and are not shown at the individual country level.  

The OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators (MSTI) provide a set of indicators that compare the Science and Technology (S&T) performance of OECD member countries and selected non-member economies. The MSTI database focuses principally on tracking financial and human resources devoted to research and experimental development (R&D), as defined in the OECD Frascati Manual, complemented by additional indicators of outputs and potential outcomes of S&T activities, namely patent data and international trade in R&D-intensive industries. MSTI also comprises several OECD economic and demographic statistical series which are used to calculate relevant benchmarks that account for differences in the relative size of economies, purchasing power and the effect of inflation.

This dataset contains monthly Comparative Price Levels (CPL) for OECD countries. CPLs are defined as the ratios of PPPs for private final consumption expenditure to exchange rates. They provide measures of differences in price levels between countries. The monthly PPPs used to derive the table are OECD estimates. The table is to be read vertically. Each column shows the number of specified monetary units needed in each of the countries listed to buy the same representative basket of consumer goods and services. In each case the representative basket costs a hundred units in the country whose currency is specified. Let’s take an example. If you are a Canadian citizen and you want to know the price level in Canada when compared to other countries, you have to look at the column Canada, where the price level is set at 100 for the whole column. If you have 120 for Finland, it means that the price level in Finland is 20% higher than in Canada. It means that you would spend 120 dollars in Finland to buy the same basket of goods and services when you spend 100 in Canada. The monthly PPPs used to derive the table are obtained by extrapolating 2022 PPPs for household final consumption expenditure using the relative rates of inflation between the countries as measured by their consumer price indices. Unless a country is a high inflation country, its PPP will tend to change slowly over time. Month-to-month changes in comparative price levels are more likely to be the result of exchange rate fluctuations. Updated data are available at the beginning of each month. Click here for release dates OECD statistics contact: [email protected]

The International Trade (MEI) dataset contains predominantly monthly merchandise trade statistics, and associated statistical methodological information, for all OECD member countries and for all non-OECD G20 economies and the EU.   The dataset itself contains international trade statistics measured in billions of United States dollars (USD) for: Exports, Imports, Balance. In all cases a lot of effort has been made to ensure that the data are internationally comparable across all countries presented and that all the subjects have good historical time-series’ data to aid with analysis.

The 'Production and Sales (MEI)' dataset is a dataset containing predominantly monthly statistics, and associated statistical methodological information, for the 34 OECD member countries and for selected other economies. The Production and Sales dataset contains industrial statistics on four separate subjects: Production; Sales; Orders; and Work started. The data series presented within these subjects have been chosen as the most relevant industrial statistics for which comparable data across countries is available. For Production, data comprise Indices of industrial production (IIP) for total industry, manufacturing, energy and crude petroleum; and further disaggregation of manufacturing production for intermediate goods and for investment goods and crude steel. For others, they comprise retail trade and registration of passenger cars; and permits issued and work started for dwellings. Considerable effort has been made to ensure that the data are internationally comparable across all countries presented, coverage for as many countries as possible, and that all the subjects have reasonable length of time-series to assist analysis. Most data are available monthly and are presented as an index (where the year 2010 is the base year) or as a level depending on which measure is seen as the most appropriate and/or useful in the economic analysis context. Due to differences in statistical or economic environment at country level, however, availability of data varies from one country to another.

Residential Property Prices Indices (RPPIs) – also named House price indices (HPIs), are index numbers that measure the price of residential properties over time. RPPIs are key statistics not only for citizens and households across the world, but also for economic and monetary policy makers. Among their professional uses, they serve, for example, to monitor macroeconomic imbalances and risk exposure of the financial sector. This dataset covers the 34 OECD member countries and some non-member countries. Please note that not all RPPIs are available for all countries. For instance, the RPPI at the most aggregate level for the United States only covers single-family dwellings, not all types of dwellings as it is the case for most other OECD countries. This dataset presents, for each country, the RPPI that is available at the most aggregate level. It mainly contains quarterly statistics. The dataset called “Residential Property Price Indices (RPPIs) – Complete dataset” contains the full list of available RPPIs. The dataset called “Analytical house price indicators” contains, in addition to nominal RPPIs, information on real house prices, rental prices and the ratios of nominal prices to rents and to disposable household income per capita. The datasets “Analytical house price indicators” and “Residential Property Price Indices (RPPIs) – Headline Indicators” do not refer to the same price indices for Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, the United States and the Euro area. These differences are further documented in country-specific metadata. For the United States, the series used in “Analytical house price indicators” is included in the dataset called “Residential Property Price Indices (RPPIs) – Complete database”, but is not the headline indicator. For all other countries, non-seasonally adjusted price indices in both datasets are identical in the period in which they overlap.For all other countries, non-seasonally adjusted price indices in both datasets are identical on the overlapping period.

In general, data comply with the UN recommandations defined in International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Concepts and Definitions, Revision 2 (IMTS, Rev.2). For exceptions and for definitions of statistical territories, please refer to country notes. Following the UN recommendations, the international merchandise trade statistics record all goods which add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports) or leaving (exports) its economic territory. Goods simply being transported through a country (goods in transit) or temporarily admitted or withdrawn (except for goods for inward or outward processing) do not add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country and are not included in the international merchandise trade statistics. Customs records should be the main source of the data; and the additional sources could be used where customs sources are not available. Goods should be included in statistics at the time when they enter or leave the economic territory of a country. In the case of customs-based data collection systems, the time of recording should be the date of lodgement of the customs declaration. Lists of goods to be included, to be recorded separately and to be excluded should be provided. Specific goods are to be excluded from detailed international merchandise trade statistics but recorded separately in order to derive totals of international merchandise trade for national accounts and balance of payments purposes. Trade system There are two trade systems in common use by which international merchandise trade statistics are compiled: general trade system and special trade system. The United Nations recommendations advise using the general trade system that provides a more comprehensive recording of external trade flows than does the special system. It also provides a better approximation of the change of ownership criterion used in the 1993 SNA and BPM5. General trade includes all goods that cross the national frontier including goods that are imported into and exported from custom-bonded warehouses and free zones. The general trade system is in use when the statistical territory of a country coincides with its economic territory so that imports include all goods entering the economic territory of a compiling country and exports include all goods leaving the economic territory of a compiling country. Special trade covers goods that cross the customs frontier plus goods that are imported into and exported from custom-bonded areas. The special trade system is in use when the statistical territory comprises only a particular part of the economic territory.

Note: This database has been discontinued. Values are expressed in United States dollars (USD) and refer to declared transaction values. Imports are reported c.i.f. and exports are reported f.o.b. with the exception of Australia, Canada, Mexico, Slovak Republic and United States where imports are reported f.o.b. United States exports are reported f.a.s. Data published are expressed as monthly averages. Quarterly and annual data are calculated as averages of monthly figures. The option chosen by OECD is to convert exchange rates for periods prior to entry into European Monetary Union (EMU), i.e. prior to 1999 for all members apart from Greece, which acceded in 2001, from the former national currency exchange rate using the appropriate irrevocable exchange rate. Such a conversion facilitates comparisons over time within a country and also preserves the historical evolution (i.e. growth rates). However, pre-EMU euro rates are notional units and are not always suitable to form area aggregates or for cross country comparisons. For further details, see The Statistics Brief Number 2, February 2002.