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What is the difference between total value added and gross domestic product?

While value added is valued at basic (or producers’) prices, GDP is valued at purchasers’ prices.Valuation at basic pricesexcludes all taxes less subsidies on products are excluded.
When value added is valued at producers’ prices, only taxes less subsidies on imports and non-deductible Value Added Taxes (VAT) are excluded.

This gives us the following identities:

 Value added at basic prices
  + all taxes less subsidies on products
  = GDP

and:

  Value added at purchasers’ prices
  + taxes less subsidies on imports
  + non-deductible VAT
  = GDP

Information about a country's method of price valuation can be found in the country metadata of the World Development Indicators database by clicking on the ‘Metadata’ button in the upper right corner of the screen.

The total value added is made up of value added for agriculture, industry, and services minus consumption of financial intermediary services indirectly measured (FISIM) in countries where this consumption is not allocated by industry. Industry is composed of mining, manufacturing, and construction industries.

The value added shares presented in the World Development Indicators for agriculture, industry, and services may not always add up to a hundred percent due to FISIM (where applicable) and taxes less subsidies on products.


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