ESCWA Publication: E/ESCWA/CL4.SIT/2025/2
Country: Arab region
Publication Type: Reports & studies
Cluster: Statistics, Information Society and Technology
Focus Area: Financing for development, Technology & innovation
Initiatives: Digital Development , Arab Financing for Development Gateway, Arab Financing for Development Scorecard, Enhancing integrated national development planning, Integrated national financing frameworks
SDGs: Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Keywords: Purchasing power, Gross domestic product, Price indices, Economics of scale, Economic analysis, Income distribution, Economic statistics, Arab countries, Comparative analysis
Real Sizes of Arab Economies between 2017 and 2023
January 2025
This report presents the most recent results of purchasing power parities (PPPs) which the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) produces for the Arab region. PPPs are the result of extensive collaborative work by the price statistics team at ESCWA, under the framework of the International Comparison Program (ICP), one of the largest global statistical initiatives. To produce PPPs, the team works closely with partner countries in the Arab region and collaborates with the programme’s implementing agencies in other regions of the world. In addition to PPP results, the report features key findings, and provides a thorough comparative analysis of countries in the Arab region. A total of 176 countries participated in the 2021 ICP global cycle; 20 of these were Arab countries. The Arab region has become an ICP pioneer: the ICP regional office at ESCWA has succeeded in turning the ICP into an integrated price statistics programme, producing purchasing power parity estimates on an annual basis, more regularly than the usual three-year ICP cycle. The regular annual calculation of PPPs and relevant key economic indicators provides a basis for sound and reliable spatial comparisons and economic analysis.
The report presents purchasing power parities, price level indices, income levels, and total and per capita expenditure for the Arab region for the period from 2017 to 2023. For 2017 and 2021, years when global ICP data was available, it presents the results for the Arab region in a global context. The report provides reliable information about the real size of the Arab economy in relation to the real size of the world economy, and of the real sizes of Arab economies relative to one another and to other economies across the globe. It also provides an overview of the major changes in spatial comparisons over time, and tracks key economic indicators across the years. The main objective of PPPs is to reflect the real purchasing power of currencies, which is usually distorted by exchange-rate conversions. The uses and benefits of PPPs are rapidly expanding across all areas of socioeconomic analysis. One of the main uses of PPPs is to provide real measures of economy size, allowing economic indicators to be compared between different countries. They are also used to calculate indicators that track progress in achieving nine of the Sustainable Development Goals, namely Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Related content
Financing for development
, Technology & innovation
,
This report presents the most recent results of purchasing power parities (PPPs) which the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) produces for the Arab region. PPPs are the result of extensive collaborative work by the price statistics team at ESCWA, under the framework of the International Comparison Program (ICP), one of the largest global statistical initiatives. To produce PPPs, the team works closely with partner countries in the Arab region and collaborates with the programme’s implementing agencies in other regions of the world. In addition to PPP results, the report features key findings, and provides a thorough comparative analysis of countries in the Arab region. A total of 176 countries participated in the 2021 ICP global cycle; 20 of these were Arab countries. The Arab region has become an ICP pioneer: the ICP regional office at ESCWA has succeeded in turning the ICP into an integrated price statistics programme, producing purchasing power parity estimates on an annual basis, more regularly than the usual three-year ICP cycle. The regular annual calculation of PPPs and relevant key economic indicators provides a basis for sound and reliable spatial comparisons and economic analysis.
The report presents purchasing power parities, price level indices, income levels, and total and per capita expenditure for the Arab region for the period from 2017 to 2023. For 2017 and 2021, years when global ICP data was available, it presents the results for the Arab region in a global context. The report provides reliable information about the real size of the Arab economy in relation to the real size of the world economy, and of the real sizes of Arab economies relative to one another and to other economies across the globe. It also provides an overview of the major changes in spatial comparisons over time, and tracks key economic indicators across the years. The main objective of PPPs is to reflect the real purchasing power of currencies, which is usually distorted by exchange-rate conversions. The uses and benefits of PPPs are rapidly expanding across all areas of socioeconomic analysis. One of the main uses of PPPs is to provide real measures of economy size, allowing economic indicators to be compared between different countries. They are also used to calculate indicators that track progress in achieving nine of the Sustainable Development Goals, namely Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
