How are the NIPA tables organized?

This guide describes the table numbering organization for BEA’s interactive National Income and Product Account (NIPA) tables. NIPA tables are presented in eight sections that group tables by major topic, such as the components of GDP, saving and investment, and income.

Table numbers are in the format “X.Y.Z,” where “X” indicates the NIPA table section, “Y” indicates the table family within the section, and “Z” indicates the metric presented.

The table sections (character “X”) are numbered as follows:

1. Section 1 – Domestic Product and Income
2. Section 2 – Personal Income and Outlays
3. Section 3 – Government Current Receipts and Expenditures
4. Section 4 – Foreign Transactions
5. Section 5 – Saving and Investment
6. Section 6 – Income and Employment by Industry
7. Section 7 – Supplemental Tables
8. Section 8 – Not Seasonally Adjusted

The table families within each section (character “Y”) have table stubs, or lines, that are generally the same.

The metric types (character “Z”), are numbered as follows:

1. X.Y.1. Percent change from preceding period in real estimates (most at annual rates)
2. X.Y.2. Contributions to percent change in real estimates
3. X.Y.3. Real estimates, quantity indexes
4. X.Y.4. Price indexes
5. X.Y.5. Current dollars
6. X.Y.6. Real estimates, chained dollars
7. X.Y.7. Percent change in prices
8. X.Y.8. Contributions to percent change in prices
9. X.Y.9. Implicit price deflators
10. X.Y.10. Percentage shares of GDP
11. X.Y.11. Percent change from (quarter or month) one year ago

This system allows data users to locate tables that contain related information more easily. For example, GDP current-dollar estimates are presented in table 1.1.5, and the corresponding chained-dollar estimates are presented in table 1.1.6. Not every metric is presented for each table family.

Tables that present current-dollar estimates, but not other types of estimates, use only the first two terms of the numbering system. For example, table 3.1, “Government Current Receipts and Expenditures,” presents only current-dollar estimates. Tables are subject to change pending the completion of annual and comprehensive updates; advance notice of any changes will be posted on BEA’s Web site when they are available.

For some tables, a letter suffix following the table number indicates that there are different versions of the table for different time periods; for example, table 4.3A shows the relation of foreign transactions in the NIPAs to the corresponding items in the international transactions accounts for the period 1946–85, table 4.3B shows the same relation (with additional detail) for the period 1986-98, and table 4.3C shows the same relation beginning with 1999.

An “Index to the NIPA Tables,” available on the BEA website, identifies the NIPA table (or tables) for each NIPA series and each topic covered by the NIPAs, and includes cross references for commonly used business and economic terms to the appropriate NIPA item.