250 Michael BoMMes, siMon FellMer and Friederike ZigMann
Figure 9.1 GDP based on purchasing power parity per capita in the EU
and MENA countries, 1990–2017
05.00010.0 0015.0 0020.0 0025.0 0030.0 0035.0 0040.0 001990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017Current international dollarEgypt
Morocco
Turkey
EUSource: International Monetar y Fund. World Economic Outlook Database, April 2012
In order to measure these economic disparities, we concentrate on three
central factors: gross domestic product (GDP),^2 income as expressed by the
gross national income (GNI)^3 and the labour-force participation rate (LPR)^4
2 We use the GDP as def ined by the International Monetary Fund: ‘gross domestic product
based on purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita’ and data from 2010 or 2012 (World Economic
Outlook Database, April 2012). GDP is the single factor normally used to depict the overall
economic activity of a country. It encompasses the total value of all goods and services produced
within a certain period of time within one country. GDP based on purchasing power parity is
the most appropriate for calculating economic disparity in cases of permanent migration, where
it is important to take into account how many goods ef fectively can be bought with the money
spent in the particular country. The alternative method of comparison would be to use exchange
rates. However, this value is more important for commuters than for permanent migrants (Sinn,
Flaig, Werding & Hänlein 2000: 32f f ).
3 The GNI used here is the ‘gross national income per capita (PPP international US$)’ for 2011,
as calculated by the United Nations Statistics Division. GNI corresponds roughly to GDP, but
excludes taxes on production and imports as well as compensation of employees and property
income due the rest of the world. However, these are taken into account when they are owed
by the rest of the world to the respective country.
4 The labour-force participation rate used here is from 2010 and is based on data provided
by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which def ines this rate as the proportion of a
country’s working-age population that engages actively in the labour market. We use this factor
instead of unemployment since there are no reliable data on unemployment in Turkey, Egypt
and Morocco because of both the more informal nature of employment and the inadequate
gathering of data on formal employment.