Gross National Product

Gross National Product (GNP), term in economics used to describe in monetary value the total annual flow of goods and services in the economy of a nation. The GNP is normally measured by totalling all personal spending, all government spending, and all investment spending by a nation's industry both domestically and all over the world. Most industrialized countries, now use the gross domestic product (GDP), which takes account of money earned from or by foreign economies, as their chief economic indicator. The GNP measures the value of all goods and services produced within a nation's borders regardless of the nationality of the producer.

GNP can also be calculated by the income approach to national accounting, in which all forms of wages and income are added together, such as corporate profits, net interest returns, rent, indirect business taxation, and unincorporated income. Both methods produce the same result.

From basic GNP and GDP totals, various other figures are derived that, in turn, describe different aspects of a nation's economy.