OECD Main Economic Indicators (MEI) - Glossary of Target Definitions and Concepts Used

The OECD Glossary, contains a comprehensive set of target definitions of the main variables collected by the Organisation for use in its statistical and analytical output, including those used in MEI. In addition, the Glossary contains definitions of key terminology and concepts used in OECD publications. Finally, the Glossary contains commonly used acronyms.

The definitions contained in the OECD Glossary are (where possible) derived from existing international statistical standards (in particular, for variable definitions) developed by the IMF, OECD, Eurostat, ILO, etc. In the main, the definitions are quoted word for word from these sources and a detailed reference is provided to enable the user to refer to the complete source document to obtain further information/context where needed.

It should be emphasised that the definitions contained in the OECD Glossary, in particular, for those relating to variables collected by the OECD are target definitions based on existing international statistical recommendations and guidelines. National practices/methodologies/concepts used in the actual compilation of data by OECD Member countries may (and frequently do) depart from these standards for a number of reasons. Information on national definitions, concepts, etc, for specific data collected from Member countries are normally presented in relevant OECD publications.