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| Per capita GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity in Israel
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According to the latest estimates by the Central Bureau of Statistics/OECD––which, adjusted for purchasing power parity, is the most stable of all the existing estimates of per capita GDP in Israel––per capita GDP in Israel was $ 27,688 in 2006. This places Israel in the twenty-first place in a descending list that includes Israel and the OECD members. |
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In April 2007 the IMF published an amended estimate of per capita GDP in Israel, adjusted for purchasing power parity, revising its previous estimate upwards significantly. This revised estimate places Israel in the eighteenth place in the above list. |
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There are considerable differences in the adjustment for purchasing power parity carried out by different international institutions. |
| The estimate of per capita GDP by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which has been found to be the most stable of the existing estimates, is calculated using an exchange rate based on purchasing power parity (PPP) published by the OECD once every three years. According to the updated CBS/OECD estimate, Israel’s per capita GDP in 2006 was $ 27,688, placing it in the twenty-first position in a descending list including the OECD member countries (see figure below). In 2005 per capita GDP was $ 26,051, with Israel in the twenty-first place also then. The CBS estimates the PPP exchange rate every year in order to include the actual changes in Israel’s GDP. The CBS has used the same method of calculation over the years, based on the PPP data published by the OECD. |
| The IMF recently changed its forecast of the level of PPP-adjusted per capita GDP in Israel. The World Economic Outlook published in April 2007 estimates Israel’s PPP-adjusted per capita GDP in 2007, at $ 31,767, which puts Israel at eighteenth place in the list with the OECD countries. That comparison of per capita GDP shows that Israel is in a similar position to that of several OECD countries, including France ($ 31,872) and Germany ($ 32,178), and not very different from the OECD average of $ 32,098. The upward adjustment to Israel’s per capita GDP derives from the adjustment of the PPP exchange rate: in shekel terms, per capita GDP showed hardly any change, but the IMF PPP exchange rate was revised (lowered) retroactively, raising Israel’s estimated PPP-adjusted per capita GDP for earlier years too. |
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| In addition to the IMF, other major international institutions also publish comparisons of PPP-adjusted per capita GDP in countries around the world including Israel––the World Bank, in its World Development Indicators (WDI), and the University of Pennsylvania, in its Penn World Table. A comparison of Israel’s PPP exchange rate as assessed by the above institutions shows significant differences between them. Apart from the University of Pennsylvania, they base their assessments on the survey carried out by the OECD every three years as part of its International Comparison Program. The different base year used in the calculations accounts for much of the difference between the assessments of the different institutions. |
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