Context for working with the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) database, the IMF staff's annual macroeconomic estimates and projections for 197 economies.

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What it is

The WEO database contains the IMF staff's annual estimates and projections for 197 economies, with series from 1980. The IMF publishes a new release in April and October.

Actual years and projections

Each country and series has its own latest actual year, and every later year is an IMF projection built on assumptions about policies, commodity prices, exchange rates, and interest rates. The latest actual year differs across countries, so a comparison or ranking for a recent year can mix reported values for some countries with projections for others. Projections run up to five years ahead and change with each release. Each release also revises past years, so figures from different releases do not combine.

Currencies and units

Values in national currency are comparable only within a country. Values in US dollars are comparable across countries and can be summed, and they change with exchange rates and economic shifts. Values at purchasing power parity (PPP) adjust for price differences, which suits comparisons of living standards and economic size across countries. Per-capita series are published directly, alongside the totals.

Comparability limits

Most data follow calendar years. Nineteen economies report national accounts and government finance on fiscal years: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Iran, Lesotho, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, Puerto Rico, Samoa, and Tonga. Thirteen report only government finance on fiscal years: The Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Dominica, Eswatini, Fiji, Hong Kong SAR, Jamaica, Mauritius, Singapore, St. Lucia, Thailand, and Trinidad and Tobago. The IMF reports these as fiscal years without converting them to calendar years, so a cross-country comparison for one year mixes calendar and fiscal years.

A country's series can abruptly shift when it rebases its national accounts or changes its reporting, and the shift reflects a revision rather than a change in the economy. The IMF smooths breaks by splicing where it can, yet some remain.

Government finance covers different parts of the public sector by country, from central government only to the wider public sector. WEO gross debt is what the general government owes to residents and non-residents alike. External debt is what all sectors of an economy owe to non-residents.

Country groups

IMF group figures are weighted composites. Growth rates and ratios are weighted by GDP at PPP, exchange rates and interest rates by GDP at market exchange rates, unemployment by labour force, and fiscal and external totals are sums in US dollars. A group figure is computed only when countries that account for at least 90% of the group's weight report data. Summing members in US dollars approximates a group total where all members report, and a group growth rate or ratio needs the IMF's weights.

Missing countries

The IMF omits or suspends data for some countries, and the list changes with each release. In April 2026 it left out projections for Afghanistan and Lebanon from 2026 and for Bolivia from 2027, data and projections for Sri Lanka from 2025 and for Eritrea from 2020, estimates and projections for West Bank and Gaza from 2025 except its 2025 prices, population, and fiscal data, data for Syria from 2011, and fiscal projections for Ecuador. Venezuela's recent figures are mostly staff estimates. Cuba and North Korea are outside the WEO as non-members of the IMF.

In the DFO

The DFO holds the WEO's national accounts series only:

• GDP in national currency, US dollars and PPP international dollars;
• GDP per person in the same three units;
• each country's share of world GDP at PPP;
• gross national savings and gross capital formation (total investment) as shares of GDP;
• the output gap.

Real growth, government finance, inflation, the current account and trade come from the World Development Indicators, which run to the latest reported year with no projections. The only IMF projections in the DFO are therefore for the series above.

For one country and year, a measure the WEO reports in both national currency and US dollars is provided as two values distinguished by their unit. Countries whose currency is the US dollar have the dollar value only. Values are in whole units. Years after a series' latest actual year are marked as estimated, and the output gap is marked as modelled in every year. The DFO contains the latest release only. A regional or world figure is built from countries, as a sum in US dollars or PPP or with the IMF's weights.