Gross national income, GNI, is a measure of economic activity. Unlike GDP, BNI also takes into account income to and from abroad. BNI is thus an income concept.
Because GNI takes into account the inflow and outflow of income, it in some sense gives a better picture of a country’s consumption space than GDP does. GNI is calculated from GDP by subtracting capital returns and labor income that go abroad and adding the corresponding income that flows into Sweden. GNI also includes tax payments and contributions from international organizations.
For most countries, these inflows and outflows are roughly equal overall, which means that the differences between GDP and GNI will not be very significant. This also applies to the Swedish part. During the 2000s, Sweden’s GNI has generally been one or a few percent higher than GDP.
| GNI and GDP for EU countries | |||
| GNI | GDP | GNI as a percentage of GDP | |
| Belgium | 461,7 | 456,9 | 101,1 |
| Cyprus | 20,3 | 21,5 | 94,1 |
| Latvia | 29,5 | 29,5 | 100,0 |
| Slovenia | 46,6 | 46,9 | 99,2 |
| Poland | 504,7 | 523,7 | 96,4 |
| Sweden | 490,1 | 475,4 | 103,1 |
| Austria | 378,9 | 379,3 | 99,9 |
| Germany | 3461,3 | 3367,6 | 102,8 |
| Denmark | 323,1 | 312,5 | 103,4 |
| Spain | 1128,5 | 1121,9 | 100,6 |
| Finland | 240,2 | 236,2 | 101,7 |
| France | 2339,2 | 2302,9 | 101,6 |
| Portugal | 196,9 | 200,1 | 98,4 |
| Slovakia | 91,0 | 92,1 | 98,9 |
| Malta | 11,9 | 13,1 | 90,9 |
| Luxembourg | 45,4 | 64,2 | 70,6 |
| Czech Republic | 207,8 | 215,3 | 96,5 |
| Greece | 164,6 | 165,3 | 99,6 |
| Croatia | 51,2 | 50,2 | 102,1 |
| Hungary | 133,0 | 136,6 | 97,3 |
| Ireland | 283,7 | 372,9 | 76,1 |
| Italy | 1673,9 | 1653,6 | 101,2 |
| Lithuania | 48,1 | 49,5 | 97,1 |
| Netherlands | 786,2 | 800,1 | 98,3 |
However, a couple of countries show larger differences between the two measures. Ireland and Luxembourg in particular stand out in this context. In both cases, GNI is significantly lower than GDP. In Luxembourg’s case, this is partly because the country has many cross-border commuters, people who work in Luxembourg but live in another country. When their wage income is subtracted from GDP, GNI is lower. That GNI is significantly lower than GDP in Ireland is mainly due to the fact that many multinational companies have relocated their headquarters to the country, but that the profits from these often accrue to owners in other countries.