National Transfer Accounts

Revealing the hidden generational economy

All societies rest on a simple but profound truth: we all depend on one another.鈥疶his is particularly evident over our life course:鈥� from birth to old age, we all rely on others for support through familial transfers, caregiving, public transfers, and savings.鈥疦o one is economically self-sufficient.鈥疶hese flows of goods and services form an implicit social contract between the generations: a network of reciprocity that sustains prosperity.鈥疺iewed in this context, the central unifying principle of the SDGs --鈥淟eave No One Behind鈥�.

This intergenerational sharing defines our economic lives and is essential for the functioning of modern economies.鈥痀et, conventional economic measures, like GDP, fail to measure these flows of resources that bind us to one another.鈥疶he need to reveal this hidden generational economy is given urgency because of changing population age structure. In many low-income economies, there is an increasing proportion of the working-age population due to a sustained decline in fertility, which opens up a window of opportunity for a demographic dividend. However, in many other countries, as the share of older persons rises in societies, the balance of givers and receivers changes and this system of mutual intergenerational support is threatened. Measuring and understanding these flows is vital to sustaining economic prosperity and equity between generations.鈥€�

Tools for revealing the hidden economy: NTA, NTTA, and NTAx

National Transfer Accounts (NTA): A comprehensive framework that measures how production, consumption, asset income, and transfers by age groups. NTA clarifies how population growth and changing age structure affect economic growth, public finances, and generational equity. In the context of rapid population aging, NTA provides the evidence needed to design sustainable policies.鈥�

National Time Transfer Accounts (NTTA): An extension of NTA that incorporates unpaid caregiving and domestic services within households. By estimating the value of time spent caring for children, the elderly, and other family members, NTTA makes visible the enormous contributions of the care economy 鈥� especially of women -- which traditional economic statistics overlook. In doing so, NTTA shows that we share resources in two currencies: money and time.鈥�

National Inclusion Accounts (NTAx): Building further on NTA, NTAx disaggregate economic flows by age and socioeconomic status. They show not only how resources move across the life course, but also how they are simultaneously distributed between socio-economic groups. This is essential for both projecting the long-term costs and financing of social protection, education, and health care, and also for ensuring equity across both generations and social groups.鈥�

Box: The Global NTA Project

Policymakers and research teams in over 100 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and North America are actively constructing National Transfer Accounts, National Time Transfer Accounts, and National Inclusion Accounts as part of the global NTA project network.

To ensure comparability, consistency, and credibility in these diverse national applications, DESA, in collaboration with the NTA network, has published standard guidelines: the National Transfer Accounts Manual and the National Time Transfer Accounts Manual, with the National Inclusion Accounts Manual forthcoming.

DESA, ECLAC, ESCAP, and UNFPA are actively in supporting Member States in strengthening their capacity in measuring and using NTA.