Reassessing Global GDP Data Accuracy in the Digital Era

Aaqib Danish, Viram Sandhu, Obaidul Ola and Sunaina Sardana

World Economics, 2026, vol. 27, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: GDP's reliability as a measure of economic performance has been increasingly undermined by rapid digitalisation of production and consumption between 2010 and 2024, particularly through the under-capture of intangible assets and cross-border digital value flows. Using secondary data from the IMF, OECD, and World Bank alongside simulated datasets, the study identifies structural biases in traditional national accounting frameworks and substantial cross-country differences in the extent of digital undercounting. A mixed-methods approach combining statistical trend analysis with qualitative interpretation quantifies the scale of this under-representation and highlights the resulting distortions in official GDP figures.

Date: 2026
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