For several decades now, the CHELEM database ["Comptes Harmonisés sur les Echanges et L’Economie Mondiale", ie harmonized international trade flows, balances of payments and world revenues], developed by the CEPII, has been recognized as one of the most useful tools to analyze global economic trends in a framework combining coherence, exhaustiveness and reliability. The CHELEM database is composed of three databases: CHELEM - International Trade, CHELEM - Gross Domestic Product and CHELEM - Balance of payments. These three databases contain annual data on long periods, going back to either 1960 or 1967. The three databases are interlinked by a common worldwide geographical classification organized in 95 elementary zones, one "not specified" zone and one "total world", and by specific indicators.

CHELEM on the CEPII website: http://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/en/bdd_modele/presentation.asp?id=17

International Trade (INT)

The CHELEM - International Trade database contains the bilateral flow of all traded goods expressed in millions of current dollars since 1967. The sectoral nomenclature has been chosen to provide the optimal fit with international trade and production classifications. The data from the different sources are harmonized and rendered coherent in a framework spanning the entire world and all goods. For each year and product category, the trade between the 95 geographical zones (countries or group of countries) is therefore represented by a unique and harmonized matrix (see de Saint Vaulry, 2008 and 2013). In particular, freight and insurance costs, as well as re-exports and re-imports, are removed.

The flows of goods are detailed in either 71 INT-CHELEM product categories, 43 INT-GTAP categories or 147 INT-ISIC categories, to which are added the non-ventilated product category and the total products. Products categories may be aggregated by industries, by stages in the production process, by intermediate sections, by sectors or by technological levels. Geographical aggregates are also available. The sectoral and geographical classifications used in the CEPII Country Profiles are presented in the classifications section.

Balance of Payments (BOP)

The CHELEM - Balance of Payments database contains the flows of the Balance of Payments since 1967. It covers 194 countries as well as the 95 elementary zones identified by the CHELEM common classification and international organizations. At the sectoral level, the data are displayed in 30 credit (resp. debit) items, of which 6 aggregates, 37 balance items, of which 7 aggregates, and 7 specific balance accounts, presenting the main headings of the classification recommended by the International Monetary Fund in the sixth manual of the Balance of Payments (see Nayman, 2014).

The flows of services represent the most detailed part of the sectoral classification of the CHELEM - BOP database: the global exchanges of 194 countries are classified in three traditional aggregate items of transport, travel and other services; the trade in "Other services", one of the most dynamic domains of the world trade since the end of 1990s (see Herzog & Ünal, 2011), is detailed in 11 categories; within the latter, the services of "Telecommunications, computing and information" as well as "Other business services" are distributed in 3 subcategories. “Processing” is not included in services in Country Profiles. Indeed, it is already included in exports and imports of goods reported by Customs included (and so in International Trade).

In this database the flows are not detailed by partner and are not harmonized. The value of world exports differs from that of world imports in services.

Gross Domestic Products (GDP)

The CHELEM - Gross Domestic Product database consists of five series among which three are estimations of Gross Domestic Products: GDP in value (current prices and dollar); GDP in volume (constant  (2011) prices and dollar); GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP constant (2011) prices and international dollar). The series of total population and nominal exchange rate complete the database.

The CHELEM - GDP series begin in 1960. The data posterior to the last available year in CHELEM - International Trade and Balance of payments databases are based on estimations of the IMF (World Economic Outlook). As the two other CHELEM databases, it covers the whole world at the level of the common classification of 95 elementary zones, but also presents a more detailed level with 201 countries or individualized statistical territories.