THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT

Style guide

January 2017

The Economist Intelligence Unit

20 Cabot Square
London E14 4QW
United Kingdom
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Contents

2 Writing and presentation

3 Words to watch

3 Spelling

3 Punctuation

5 Hyphens

7 Singular or plural?

7 Abbreviations and acronyms

8 Full stops

9 Capital letters

12 People, titles and names

14 Company names

14 Places

15 Foreign words, italics and references

16 Numbers and units of measurement

19 Date and time

20 Currencies
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Our company name is The Economist Intelligence Unit. Do not refer to "the EIU" or "The EIU" in text. Give our
full name on first mention and thereafter use "we" or "our" unless required specifically to differentiate
ourselves from another organisation, for example when comparing data.

When using our name adjectivally, for example in table footnotes, "The" should be deleted,
Eg a Economist Intelligence Unit estimates.

Writing and presentation

Brevity and clarity
Readers value brevity and clarity. Use short sentences, short words and clear explanations. Avoid unnecessary
words such as "very".

Quotations
Use sparingly, unless they are particularly striking, and always with quotation marks rather than inverted
commas.

Avoid jargon
Eg Foreign-exchange rate, not forex
Verbs
Use active rather than passive
Eg The vote shook market confidence, not market confidence was shaken by the vote

Avoid prepositions after verbs

Eg "meet" not "meet with"; "buy and sell", not "buy up and sell off"

Avoid mixing functions of nouns, verbs and adjectives

Eg The storm had an impact on trade, not the storm impacted trade; made evident, not evidenced;
attempted coup, not coup attempt.

Personification
Avoid personification in general. Do not use capital cities to personify a government
Eg The US government’s decision, not Washington’s decision; the 2015 result, not 2015’s result.

Metaphors
Avoid using these, prefer plain explanations.

Policy on libel
It is important to avoid careless repetition of allegations of corruption. Editorial staff should be wary of libel
and defamation to avoid exposing themselves or The Economist Intelligence Unit to legal action by individuals.
Further pointers and advice can be found on The Economist Group's intranet.
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Words to watch
Compare: at The Economist Intelligence Unit, we almost always compare something "with" something else
Eg GDP rose by 2% in 2016 compared with 2015.

Less than, fewer than: use "fewer than" with things that can be counted
Eg fewer than 300 people, but less than £200 (as this is a measured quantity).

Last: use "past" in the following context: over the past three years, not over the last three years
use "last" in the following context: in the last six months of his presidency.

Likely: say that it is likely that something will fail, not that it will likely fail.

On the one hand: must always be paired with "on the other hand" and vice versa.

Premier: should not be used as a synonym for the prime minister.

Try to: never "try and".

Which informs, that defines: This is the house that Jack built. But this house, which Jack built, is falling down.

While: should be used temporally, meaning "at the same time as". Do not use it in place of "although",
"whereas" or "and"
Eg While in office, the president signed an important treaty.

Spelling
Use British English spelling; the simplest way to do this is to use a UK spellcheck dictionary on your word-
processing software. Use The Chambers Dictionary for guidance on spelling.

For regional spelling information, consult the regional style guide.

Places and institutions

Use British English for places and for governmental and international institutions
Eg World Health Organisation; US Department of Defence.

Punctuation
Apostrophe
Use the normal possessive ending 's after singular words or names that end in "s"
Eg Mr Santos’s proposal
Use 's after plurals that do not end in "s"
Eg children's; opposition's
Use s' on plurals that end in "s", including plural names that take a singular verb
Eg Barclays' ; the Philippines'
Do not put apostrophes in decades
Eg the 1990s.
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Brackets
If the whole sentence is within the brackets put the full stop inside.
If you wish to place your own explanation inside a direct quotation, use square brackets.
Do not use more than one pair of brackets in a sentence, unless for a good reason such as giving multiple
currency conversions.
Never make brackets possessive, rephrase the sentence instead
Eg the actions of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU, the central bank), not the National Bank of
Ukraine (NBU, the central bank)’s actions.

Colon
The most important use of a colon is to introduce a list. The first word after the colon should be lower case
unless what follows is a quotation
Eg The Economist Intelligence Unit publishes in a variety of formats: newsletters, reports and online
articles.

Commas
Use commas for clarity but too many in a sentence can be confusing.
Use when inserting a clause into the middle of a sentence
Eg The protest, which was attended by 1m people, will have serious political ramifications.
Do not use the Oxford comma (before and in a list), unless one of the items in the list contains another "and".
Eg The country's main exports are chemicals, oil and gas, and minerals
The country's main exports are chemicals, oil and minerals, not the country's main exports are
chemicals, oil, and minerals.

Dash
The dash used by The Economist Intelligence Unit is an em dash (—) closed up to the words either side of it. It
can be found by pressing alt + 0151 on the number pad in Microsoft Word, or in the symbols button in DMS
(Ω).
You can use dashes in pairs instead of brackets, but no more than one set per sentence, and ideally no more
than one per paragraph.
Do not use dashes to punctuate around a sub-clause, use commas instead
Eg The rally, which was attended by the vice-president, soon turned violent, not The rally—which was
attended by the vice-president—soon turned violent.

Full stops
Use plenty to keep sentences short. Do not use full stops in abbreviations, including initials
Eg Mr Obama, not Mr. Obama.

Question marks
Except in sentences that include a question within quotation marks, question marks always come at the end of
a sentence.

Quotation marks
Use quotation marks instead of inverted commas.
Put punctuation marks outside speech marks unless the punctuation is included in the original sentence or
unless the whole sentence is a quotation
Eg The economy was "doing better than expected". But The governor of the central bank stated: "The
economy is doing better than expected."
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Semi-colon
This should be used to mark a pause longer than a comma but shorter than a full stop. Avoid overuse, often a
full stop is better.
It can be usefully deployed in a list of phrases where commas may be confusing
Eg They agreed on three points: the ceasefire should be immediate; it should be internationally
supervised, preferably by the OAU; and a peace conference should be held, preferably in Geneva.

Slash
This is used in a series of crop, fiscal or academic years
Eg fiscal year 2015/16
Avoid using "and/or"
As the slash means "divided by", it may be used in phrases such as "debt/GDP ratio".

Hyphens
Hyphens are an aid to understanding. They are used to connect words that, if left unconnected, might be
understood differently, and to avoid ambiguity
Eg Disease-causing poor nutrition/disease causing poor nutrition
New-car sales/new car sales.

Do not hyphenate unnecessarily

Eg A higher than expected rise in total fixed investment, not "higher-than-expected".

Adjectives
Compound adjectives
Adjectives composed of two or more words or adjectival phrases generally need a hyphen when they precede
the noun that they modify, to avoid ambiguity.

Double compounds
Eg Current-account deficit, but the current account
The public-sector borrowing requirement, but the public sector.

Do not add a hyphen where there is no risk of ambiguity, eg health insurance programme or if it is unclear if or
where the phrase should be hyphenated, eg multiple rocket launcher.

Triple compounds
Phrases requiring several hyphens
Eg On a year-on-year basis growth was flat, but growth in average hourly earnings accelerated to
around 2.5% year on year
Cost-of-living allowances, but the high cost of living
High-interest-bearing bank loans, but bank loans with a high interest.

Compound adjectives containing numbers or adjectives formed from numbers

These usually take a hyphen
Eg four-storey building; eight-month delay; three-and-a-half-hour meeting; a 50-basis-point increase.
6

Words split from their partner

Words need hyphens when they have been split from the words with which they would normally be
hyphenated
Eg The finance minister is worried about both short- and long-term interest rates
Block 3 is a giant oil- and gas-condensate field
NB: Oil- and gasfields have been opened up to foreign investment
Ford expects to have fully autonomous cars in commercial operation in 2021 as part of a ride-
hailing or -sharing service.

Numbers
Use hyphens for series and ranges of numbers
Eg 2015-16; 50-60%, 2,000-3,000 km; 2m-3m; and for voting scores, eg a 50-20 vote
Do not write 30 to 40 years; 2m to 3m
Prefer "three or four years" to "three to four years" (unless this is a change from three to four years)
The slash should not be used instead of a hyphen (2016-17 means two years).

Fractions
Use hyphens for fractions
Eg two-thirds, three-quarters
Exceptions: half, a quarter, a third, eg Half of Congress supported the motion.

Qualifiers in dates
Use hyphens for qualifiers in dates: mid-2016, year-end, end-period, end-March, mid-March. But write late
2016 and early 2017. NB: mid-term elections, never mid-terms.

Identical letters
Use a hyphen to separate repeated vowels that are pronounced differently
Eg anti-inflationary; co-operate; re-emphasise
If in doubt, refer to The Chambers Dictionary.

Compass points
Use hyphens for the quarters of the compass: north-east(ern), south-west(ern).

Capitals and hyphens

The second word in a hyphenated combination is not capitalised unless it forms part of the title of an official
organisation
Eg Vice-president, South-east Asia, but the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Exception: if the second word is a proper noun (or adjective), eg intra-Asian.

Adverbs
Adverbs ending in -ly do not take a hyphen
Eg internationally oriented; seasonally adjusted; genetically modified
Consider rewording, particularly if you are uncertain where to place the hyphens in a phrase,
Eg avoid US$25m-worth of goods; prefer goods worth US$25m.

Well: when used as part of a compound adjective is hyphened (a well-known singer) but is not hyphened when
used as an adverb (she became well known, he is well intentioned).
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Singular or plural?
General rules
If the sentence structure uses "and", use a plural verb,
Eg The foreign secretary and his adviser are to make a visit
If the sentence structure uses "with", "along with", "together with", "combined with" or "as well as" and the
subject is singular, use a singular verb,
Eg The foreign secretary, together with several advisers, is to make a visit.

Plural nouns: should have plural verbs. Data and media are plural nouns.
Eg Official inflation data for February are not yet available
Kogalym today is one of the few Siberian oil towns that are almost habitable (ie, of the few
Siberian oil towns that are almost habitable, Kogalym is one)

Collective nouns
Election or elections: Make sure you know whether you are writing about a single election (eg general,
presidential or legislative) or about elections (eg local, or parliamentary and presidential together).

Singular nouns
A government, a party, a company (eg Tesco, Marks and Spencer), a stockbroker, a bank and a partnership
(eg Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) are all singular.
A country is singular (and also neutral in gender), even if its name looks plural
Eg The Netherlands is helping the Philippines.
For the possessive, use an apostrophe after the final "s" in the country's name
Eg Seychelles' public debt stock remains high.
Exceptions: Barbados's; Comoros's; Laos's; Mauritius's; Turks and Caicos's; US's
The following nouns are singular: agenda, economics, expenditure, mechanics, police, politics, propaganda,
revenue.
Law and order defies the rules of grammar and is singular.

Abbreviations and acronyms

General rules
When using abbreviations and acronyms, spell out the full form on first mention
Eg Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Always supply an abbreviation or acronym if the item or organisation is well known by it, even if the item is not
mentioned again in the text
Eg value-added tax (VAT); Memorandum of Understanding (MoU); North American Free-Trade
Agreement (NAFTA).
Otherwise, the abbreviation or acronym should be included after the name of the item or organisation only if
there is further mention of it in the article or report.
NB: Spell out first time: member of parliament (MP), because MP can also refer to military policeman.
Therefore, spell out MEP first time too.
Make sure the bracketed abbreviation or acronym is placed next to the correct full form. Saying that the
economy is dominated by small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) is incorrect.
Do not make up your own abbreviations (the former Soviet Union is not the FSU; basis points is not bp;
barrels/day is not bpd).
Do not abbreviate unnecessarily. Therefore, always write: Senator not Sen; General not Gen; Lieutenant-
Colonel not Lt-Col.
Spell out names of months in full, except in tables and charts (abbreviate to three letters; but for footnotes
and sources give name of month in full).
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The following are known by their acronyms only and there is no need to spell out the name in full:
AIDS/HIV, BBC, CIA, EU, IMF, NATO, OECD, OPEC, UK, UN, US.

True acronyms
True acronyms are made up of all or some of the first letters of the name of the organisation/agreement and
should be all capitals
Eg ASEAN, NAFTA, TPP, UNCTAD, UNESCO, USAID, WHO.
Near-acronyms
Abbreviations that can be pronounced and are composed of bits of words rather than purely first initials are
written in upper and lower case: Caricom, Coreper, Ecofin, Mercosur, Unprofor.

Definite article
Most acronyms for organisational names (IMF, G7, WHO, WTO) need the definite article (the) when used as a
noun. There are some exceptions, for which there is no clear rule. A general guide is that a pronounceable
acronym (such as NATO, ASEAN) needs no article.

Ampersands
Avoid ampersands except in tables and charts, or if they are part of a proper name, such as Standard & Poor's.
Otherwise, use "and"
Eg the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Full stops
Do not place full stops after abbreviated words or initials
Eg George W Bush.

Personal titles
These do not take full stops. Use Mr, Ms, Mrs (do not abbreviate other titles).

Addresses
Addresses do not take full stops: Ave, St, Rd, Blvd; Fifth Ave, 42nd St, DC (for District of Columbia).

Number
May be abbreviated to No. or no. in tables only.

Eg, ie, etc

Eg (for example), ie (that is) and etc should not have full stops. Avoid them if possible, spell out instead: for
example; for instance; that is.
If it is not possible to avoid them, precede eg and ie by a comma.
Use of etc may be sloppy because the reader may not understand what the rest of the list might be. Do not
combine eg and etc in one sentence: if you use "eg" or "for example", you do not need etc.
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Capital letters
Organisations and institutions, political parties, acts and treaties, agreements and programmes
The general rule is to give initial capitals to organisations, places and institutions when their proper names are
being used, but to be more sparing in the use of capitals for people and their titles. If in doubt, prefer lower case
unless the result appears absurd.
Organisations and institutions
Use initial capitals for the exact names of institutions, or their exact English translations, or for when the name is
close to the exact name and is in widespread use
Eg the State Department.
Use lower case for shorthand, rough (particularly for foreign names if you are not sure of the exact translation)
or incomplete names. But if the shorthand is common and might confuse when in lower case, use initial capitals
Eg "France's National Assembly", but "the French parliament"
"the Central Bank of Ireland", but "the central bank"
Give the full name on first mention and use the shorthand version on subsequent mentions.
The less important an entity or organisation, or the more impermanent it seems, the more appropriate it will be
to use lower case.
Use lower case for adjectival usage: parliamentary, parliamentarian, congressional.

Political parties

Initial capitals for the full formal name of a political party, including the word party. Where we use English
translations we still generally use local-language acronyms
Eg Danish People's Party (DF); Social Democratic Party (SPD).
French: The first word has an initial capital, followed by lower-case initials except where initial capitals are
essential (proper nouns)
Eg Parti communiste français; Rassemblement pour la République.

Acts and treaties, agreements and programmes

Use initial capitals for the full or proper name, but lower case for the shorthand version
Eg Financial Services Act; African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA); Treaty of Rome, but Rome
treaty; Dodd-Frank act.
Generic agreements and programmes (notably those of the IMF and World Bank) should be lower case; specific,
often national, ones take initial capitals
Eg free-trade agreement; extended fund facility; stand-by arrangement; heavily indebted poor
countries (HIPC) initiative
Growth and Transformation Plan II (GTP II); 11th Malaysia Plan.
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Rulings
1st mention 2nd mention

monetary policy committee MPC

Department of the Environment department
Ministry of Agriculture ministry, or agriculture ministry
common agricultural policy CAP
economic and monetary union EMU
European Commission Commission
European Parliament Parliament
exchange-rate mechanism ERM
House of Representatives House
Federal Reserve Fed
Treaty on European Union Maastricht treaty
Supreme Court court/s
inter-governmental conference IGC
National Assembly Assembly
Treasury bonds, Treasury bills T-bonds, T-bills
World Bank Bank
IMF Fund
special drawing rights SDRs

Geography
Recognised political or geographical entities take initial capitals
Eg Central America, Central Asia, Central Asian republics
the Middle East
the American South
South Atlantic
Midwest (US)
the Copperbelt
Vague terms take lower case
Eg the sunbelt, the continent, continental Europe, the greenbelt.

Compass points
These have initial capitals in conjunction with recognised political or geographical place names. Combinations
such as north-west are hyphenated, with the second word lower case except when part of an organisation’s
name. So write South-east Asia, but the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Eg North and South America, East and West Africa, South and East Asia, South-east Asia, North-west
Passage.
Use lower case for vague or undefined areas, eg the north of England, the south-east of Japan.
 11

Adjectival compass points

Use lower-case initials, eg western, eastern, unless a definite geographical or political entity is being described
Eg western France, western Europe, eastern Europe, Southern Africa.

The West
The terms West, Western, often have a political connotation, referring to OECD members, and so take an initial
capital. Thus, Western donors, Western economies are correct usage.

The third world

This is an unsatisfactory term now that the communist second world has disappeared; prefer "developing
countries" or "emerging markets".

States, provinces, counties and cities

Use lower case for province, county or state when not strictly part of the name: Washington state, Cunene
province, Blue Nile state, but County Durham, Madison County.
City should always take an initial capital letter when in conjunction with a name: Kuwait City, New York City,
Mexico City, Gaza City.

Geographical and topographical features

The words for natural and man-made geographical features are considered part of the proper name whether
they come before or after the name, and so should be given initial capital letters
Eg River Thames, Yellow River, South China Sea, Table Mountain, Aswan Dam, Nile Delta, Namib
Desert.
When clear from the context the term river can be omitted: the Amazon, the Mekong, the Nile, the Mississippi.

Dates, events
All holidays, including New Year, Year of the Dog, May Day, should be initial capitals.
Recognised historical periods take initial capitals
Eg the Depression, the Black Death, the New Deal, the Cultural Revolution.
Wars do not take initial capitals
Eg the second world war, not the Second World War or World War II;
the Gulf war; the Falklands war; the Iran-Iraq war; the cold war.
Use lower case if usage is unclear or vague: the recession, the oil shocks, the bull market. Use initial capitals if
this helps to clarify, eg Black Monday, Big Bang.

Currencies
Use lower case for all currencies except the Brazilian Real
Eg The US dollar has strengthened against the euro.
12

Miscellaneous rulings
Upper case Lower case
Congress aborigines
Senate blacks
the Bible government, cabinet, opposition
Catholics common market
Protestants constitution
Coloureds (in South Africa) consumer price index
Hispanics internet
the Crown email
Prophet/Prophet Mohammed embassy
Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox the press
Semitic (-ism) green paper, white paper (not italics)
anti-Semitism euro area, euro zone
Eurobond Europe's single market
Article IV state of the union

People, titles and names

People
Use initial capitals for all ranks and titles when directly preceding a name, but lower case when on their own
Eg General Bloggs; King Felipe VI; Queen Elizabeth
The foreign secretary; the chairman, the finance director.
Most titles should not be attached directly to names
Eg The British prime minister, Theresa May, not Prime Minister May; The Economist’s chairman, Rupert
Pennant-Rea, not Chairman Pennant-Rea; the agriculture minister, John Bloggs, not Minister Bloggs.
There are a few exceptions where using lower case for titles or people would look odd: First Lady, Lord
Chancellor, Dalai Lama and Aga Khan.
We normally give people the title they themselves adopt.

Forms of address
Do not use Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Dr on first mention: use John Smith, not Mr John Smith.
On second and subsequent mentions, write title and last name: Mr Smith, never simply Smith, unless the person
is dead.
In general give people the names and titles they prefer. Bill Clinton, not William Clinton; Zac Goldsmith, not
Frank Zacharias Goldsmith.
Omit irrelevant or misleading titles. Ignore extras such as OBE, Jr and Sr, II, III or IV unless leaving them out risks
confusing the reader.
PhDs: Generally, it is irrelevant to call PhDs Dr.
Dr: Medical doctors should be called Dr, but other doctors should not.
Academic titles: a person should be called a professor only if he or she holds a chair at a university; after first
mention revert to Mr, Mrs, Ms.
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Middle initials: avoid using middle initials unless to omit them would be misleading. There is no full stop after a
middle initial, eg George W Bush.
English forms: we use English forms of address and call people Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms etc (not Herr, Señora, Mme).
Non-English speaking world
Local usage may be followed for certain regions, notably Asia and Africa, where the terms Mr/s may be
outlandish or misleading. In certain countries, notably China, the surname comes first, and in others the
penultimate name should be used. If particular figures are universally known by a single name, use this. See
regional style guides for further details
Eg Joko Widodo in Indonesia becomes Jokowi on second mention
Thaksin Shinawatra becomes Thaksin
Thongloun Sisoulith in Laos becomes Thongloun
Xi Jinping becomes Mr Xi
Salva Kiir Mayardit in South Sudan becomes Mr Kiir.
Women
Use Ms if you do not know the correct or preferred title (Miss, Mrs, Ms) unless it is culturally inappropriate.
Respect preferences for Mrs and maiden names, eg Mrs Clinton; Mrs Johnson Sirleaf; Mrs May.
Titles
Life peeresses should be called Lady, not Baroness, just as Barons are called Lord.
Knights, dames, lords, princes, kings, sultans etc should be given their title on first and subsequent mentions,
eg King Salman bin Abdel-Aziz al-Saud, then King Salman on second mention, and so should high-ranking
religious officials, such as Ayatollah Khamenei or Archbishop Welby. Lords are not generally referred to by their
first names: eg Lord Ashcroft not Lord Michael Ashcroft.
Titles should be capitalised when attached to a name but not otherwise, eg King Abdullah, but the king,
Abdullah. Where titles also function as proper names, they should be capitalised, eg the Pope, the Supreme
Leader, the First Lady, Black Rod, the Dalai Lama.
Titles in the armed forces
Ensure that the title is correct. Do not abbreviate military ranks, therefore Admiral Jones, not Adm Jones
Eg General Raheel Sharif becomes General Sharif on second mention
General Sir Nick Carter becomes General Carter.
Lieutenant-General and Major-General become General on second mention.
Brigadier-General becomes Brigadier on second mention.
Retired and dead people keep their ranks, eg Colonel Qadhafi.
Where military figures become political leaders, follow common usage on whether to use their military rank.
If they resign their commission, use Mr/Ms, eg Mr Sisi.

Foreign names
Accents: The Economist Intelligence Unit puts accents on French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese
names, and no others.
Arab names: For "al", write of the Al Saud or the Al Thani family, but as part of a name it is lower case and
hyphenated, eg Salman bin Abdel-Aziz al-Saud.
Write Sheikh, not Shaikh; on second mention usually use the first name
Eg Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum becomes Sheikh Mohammed.
14

Chinese names: Mainland-Chinese names put the family name first and then combine the first names into a
single word, following the Pinyin spelling. There are no hyphens in Pinyin
Eg Xi Jinping becomes Mr Xi on second mention.
Historical exceptions: Chiang Kai-shek, Sun Yat-sen.
Women are referred to as Ms, Miss or Mrs.
See regional style guides for further information

Company names
Company names should be written as the company calls itself, even if this breaks our house style, eg when using
its acronym, the Korea Electric Power Corporation should be KEPCO, not Kepco.

Legal attachments
Do not include legal attachments to company names (Corp, Corporation, Plc, Ltd, Pty, Berhad, AG, GmbH, SA,
NV, KK, Inc etc) unless it would be misleading to omit them. Omit national qualifiers (eg Nissan UK) on the
same principle. Cases where an omission could be misleading include those where there are two firms with
the same name, or when you wish to refer only to a specific subsidiary.

Punctuation
Include punctuation and typography in a company name if that is what the company prefers (eg, Standard &
Poor's).

National origin
Give a company's national origin, even if it is familiar to you; it may not be familiar to all your readers:
eg a French oil company, Total. It may be possible instead to weave the national origin into the text.

Places

English or local?
Use the English forms when they are in common international use
Eg Basel, Cologne, Kiev, Milan, Munich, Rome, Venice.
Use local names or locally preferred transliterations when the name looks likely to endure. It has nothing to do
with whether we like the government or not
Eg Beijing, not Peking, Myanmar, not Burma, Sri Lanka, not Ceylon.
If using local names in French, German, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese, use accents
Eg Bogotá, Côte d’Ivoire, Düsseldorf, Liège, São Paulo.

The UK
This is The Economist Intelligence Unit's preferred usage, not the United Kingdom, Britain or England (unless the
specific geographical area is meant). For the adjective, use British or UK.

The US
Always write the US, not the United States or USA. For the adjective, prefer US to American.
 15

Some rulings
Argentinians, not Argentines.
Prefer Asia and Australasia, or Asia, Australasia as applicable.
East Asia, not the Far East or the East.
South Korea (not Republic of Korea) and North Korea; not simply Korea.
the Gulf, not the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf. If there is risk of confusion, say "the Persian Gulf" on first
mention.
Palestine, not Palestinian Territories.
Ireland, not Eire or the Irish Republic. Only use Republic of Ireland when there is a risk of ambiguity.
the Netherlands, not Holland; The Hague ("The" always has a capital "T").
Ukraine, not the Ukraine
Crimea, not the Crimea.
See also the list of countries on eiu.com.

Cities
If a city is not a capital or is not internationally known, give the country (or state, for the US) when it is not clear
from the context. Tokyo does not need further identification. Allentown, Pennsylvania, does.

See regional style guides for further information.

Foreign words, italics and references

Use a foreign word only if its meaning is clear. If it is not clear, and the word must still be used, give a
translation. If you can write it in English, do so. Latin should not be used unless you can be sure that readers
will understand (avoid phrases like ab initio, sine qua non, ultra vires).

Accents
The Economist Intelligence Unit puts accents on French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian words, and
no others. On words accepted as English, accents are used mainly where they make a crucial difference to
pronunciation
Eg cliché, façade, café, communiqué, exposé, elite, feted, chateau.
Exceptions: vis-à-vis, coup d'état.

Italics
If the word is in The Chambers Dictionary, do not italicise. If it is not, italicise.
Italics are not necessary for the following:
Local names for administrative areas: aimag, feddan, oblast
Names in foreign languages of proper nouns: institutions such as legislatures, organisations, programmes, laws
and acts, stock-exchange names, national holidays, plans, indexes and laws, Treasury bills, certificates, taxes,
bonds, funds.
16

References to publications
Italics are used for the following:
Names of newspapers, journals, magazines etc: The Times, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, Business
Europe, Le Monde, Die Welt, Die Zeit. Italicise "The" only if it is part of the publication's proper name,
eg The Economist, but the Observer.
Exception: Italics are not needed if a source is online-only, eg Ferghana News; Huffington Post.
Titles of books, whether in the main text or in sources, bibliographies and footnotes.
Names of publications or reports should be in italics, eg IMF, International Financial Statistics.
Titles of articles in magazines or journals, or chapters in books, should be enclosed in quotation marks but not
set in italics
Eg J R R Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, London, 1960.
S L Smith, "Cross-reference systems in microbiology", The Lancet.

Names of ships, aircraft, spacecraft

Italicise: HMS Gloucester, Spirit of St Louis, Challenger.

Lawsuits
Balboa v Millhouse. Note that versus is shortened to v and is also italic.

Numbers and units of measurement

Rulings
Spell out numbers from one to ten inclusive. From 11 on, use figures.
Similarly, for adjectives use eighth, 21st, 90th.
Use words for one-hundredth, one-thousandth.
Avoid mixing figures and words. If you do have a mixed list, prefer figures.
Avoid beginning a sentence with a number. Where this is impossible, the number must be written out in full
Eg Forty-two politicians were revealed to be under investigation, but In September 42 politicians were
revealed to be under investigation.
Always use digits in conjunction with units of measurement, currencies, weights and measures, even for
numbers of ten and less, eg 3 km.
When referring to basis points, percentage points or any kind of change measured in points, always use digits,
even when the number is ten or lower.
When referring to ten-year bonds, ten should be written out, not expressed in digits. Exception: when writing
"10-year bonds" in a chart.
Use the metric system. Avoid mixing metric and imperial units.
A unit of measurement when used adjectivally with a number is hyphenated
Eg 60-kg bag; 200-km road; 8-MW capacity; 18-inch pipe.

Spelling out
These units of measurement are spelt out for clarity:
inch/es; litre/s; metre/s, sq metres; mile/s; tonne/s (abbreviated in combinations).
Tonne
Use the word "tonne", meaning a metric tonne (ie 1,000 kg). If you need to use "ton" (imperial ton), tell the
reader.
1 imperial or long ton = 2,240 lb
1 short ton = 2,000 lb.
 17

Million, billion, trillion

When abbreviated these are closed up to their numbers, eg 310m oz; a population of 4bn.
Million is always abbreviated to m.
A billion is 1,000 million; it is always abbreviated to bn.
A trillion is 1,000 billion; it is always abbreviated to trn.
When million, billion, trillion are used with a currency symbol on their own, leave a space between them and
the currency abbreviation, eg US$ m, US$ bn, Tala m, ¥ trn.

Quadrillion, quintillion
A quadrillion is 1,000 trillion; it has no abbreviation.
A quintillion is 1,000 quadrillion; it has no abbreviation.

Fractions
Do not compare a fraction with a decimal in the same context
Eg In the survey, 28% indicated that they would vote for the incumbent and 6% said that they would
abstain, not Half the population voted in favour, but 33% voted against.
Fractions should be written out unless they are attached to a whole number, and they should be hyphenated.
Refer to a half, a third, a quarter. All others should be in the format one-fifth; two-thirds.

Decimals
Do not use .0 after whole numbers (18%, not 18.0%), except in tables where decimal points must align.
Round millions, billions, trillions etc to no more than two decimal places.
Write 380,000, not 0.38m; 800m, not 0.8bn.
Figures below 5 should be rounded down; figures of 5 and over should be rounded up.
Round four figures of thousands to millions: 4,371,000 = 4.37m.
Round four figures of millions to billions: 5,866m = 5.87bn.
Round four figures of billions to trillions: 9,675bn = 9.68trn.

Spurious accuracy
Avoid spurious accuracy in numbers. Use rough figures for estimates unless using national or official figures,
eg an estimate of US$3.8m, or nearly US$4m. When writing about estimates, be aware of the source. For
instance, Economist Intelligence Unit estimates in the final quarter for the current year are quite accurate,
whereas other sources may not be.

Ranges
When writing a range of numbers, the spoken style ("5-10m") is misleading.
Write 5m-10m, 500-1,000, 100,000-500,000, 5bn-10bn. When citing a range of currencies or percentages, use
US$5-10, not US$5-US$10; 5-10%, not 5%-10%.
"Between" must be followed by "and", eg "between US$10 and US$15" or "US$10-15", not "between
US$10-15".
Write "15-20 years", not "15 to 20 years".
Beware of misleading ranges like "two to three years", where the range seems to be too close to be plausible.
Prefer two or three years.
18

Percentages
Use %, not percent. But write percentage, not %age
Eg 5%, not five per cent.
Exception: If starting a sentence with 5%, when it has to be written out.
When an interest rate is reduced from 7% to 6%, it has been cut by 1 percentage point, not by 1%, since 1% of
7 is a great deal less than 1. Percentage points are units of measurement, so the number is not spelt out.
Basis points (a financial term) are hundredths of a percentage point. A fall of 40 basis points is a fall of
0.4 percentage points.

Abbreviations

In combinations with numbers, the following units of measurement are always abbreviated. All others are
spelt in full. Leave a space between the digit and the unit of measurement (except for million)
British thermal units Btu
centimetre cm
centolitre cl
cubic cu
feet ft
gigawatts GW
gigawatt hours GWh
gram (not gramme) g
hectare ha
kilogram kg
kilometre km
kilowatt kW
kilowatt hours kWh
megawatt MW
megawatt hours MWh
millimetre mm
million m
ounce oz
square ( eg kilometres) sq km
twenty-foot equivalent units TEU [no s at the end of TEU]
Combinations
1st mention 2nd mention
US$18/barrel US$18/b
barrels/day b/d
cu ft/day cu ft/d
gallons/day gal/d
tonnes/month t/m
tonnes/year t/y
 19

Ratios
If the phrase can be written in words, such as "debt to GDP ratio", "debt to equity ratio", use a slash instead of
the word "to", eg debt/GDP ratio, debt/equity ratio.
Otherwise, use a hyphen when the usage is adjectival, eg debt-service ratio, debt-equity swap. "Debt service"
and "debt equity", being nouns, are not hyphenated.

Per
Per head/a head and per year/a year are all acceptable. Use "GDP per head" and "GNP per head".

-fold
Is not hyphenated, eg fivefold, fifteenfold.

Date and time

In some contexts, "last" should be avoided, as it may cause confusion. Write "in the past ten years", not "in the
last ten years". However, "last year" is fine when referring to the previous year. Avoid "last month" and "last
week", as these references go out of date quickly.

Writing the date

The components and format for writing dates are: month day (plus ordinal, "st", "nd" , "rd","th", not
superscript) year, in that order, with no commas
Eg July 5th
July 5th 2016
July 5th-12th 2016
July 27th-August 3rd 2016
July 2016
In September 2016 (no comma after September or 2016).
Never use 21/10/16.

Months
Spell out names of months unless they are being used in tables (headings, subheadings, column headings, item
lines), charts or footnotes, in which case use a three-letter abbreviation.
Eg At the end of March or end-March 2016
In late September, not late-September
In mid- to late June, not mid-to-late June.

Quarters
The first quarter of 2015; in first-quarter 2015.

Fiscal year
Do not use FY; spell it out. In the first reference, always mention when the fiscal year starts
Eg Fiscal year 2015/16 (July-June), then 2015/16.

Decades
The 1980s, not the eighties, the 1980's, the '80s or '80's.
The 2000s.
A man in his 20s.
20

Years
Write 2015/16 and 2015-16; 1998-2016; 2000-03, not 2015/6; 2015/2016; 2015-6; 2015-2016.
2015/16 means one (generally fiscal, crop or academic) year.
2015-16 means two calendar years, or during two calendar years.
From 2014 to 2016, not from 2015-16
Between 2010 and 2016, not between 2010-16.
Avoid using during the course of 2015; prefer during or in 2015.
Avoid using through to 2017/through 2017, as this can be misleading.

Period comparisons
Centuries
Follow the numbering rules for spelling out centuries: thus, fifth and tenth century, 20th and 21st century
(hyphenated as adjective).
Seasons
Avoid mentioning seasons unless:
You can pinpoint the month; it is summer in Australia when it is winter in Japan or the US. A way round this is
to say: late 2016, not autumn 2016; early 2017, not spring 2017; mid-2017, not summer 2017 etc
A seasonal reference is in context and months would not be helpful:
Eg Winter frosts affecting the coffee crop or oil consumption
Summer weather and electricity supplies for airconditioning.

Mid- and year-end

mid-March; mid-2016; year-end, not end-year.

Possessive
Dates cannot take the possessive case as they cannot own anything. Avoid by turning the sentence.
Eg the budget deficit of 2016, not 2016's budget deficit
the coup that occurred on January 24th, not January 24th's coup.

Time
Examples: 6 pm, 10 am, 6-10 am, 6.30-10.30 am.

Currencies
Do not abbreviate currencies in text unless combined with a number
Eg The Swedish krona has been devalued, not the Skr has been devalued
The trade surplus was Skr5m
The US dollar:euro exchange rate is currently strong.
Do not leave a space between the abbreviated currency name and the number (but see regional style guides
for exceptions).
Conversions
A conversion should be given in US dollars on the first occurrence of the local currency in every report or
online article. The conversion should be repeated the first time that a different magnitude of the currency is
mentioned, so trillion, billion, million, thousand.
 21

If a foreign-currency reference is not recent, do not give today's conversion rate; either omit the US dollar
equivalent if that is sensible or give the historical US dollar equivalent, or express both in US dollars.
Two exceptions:
In euro zone countries do not give a US dollar conversion for mentions of euro amounts. However, for non-
euro zone countries give the US dollar conversion for mentions of euro.
In a country where the local currency is pegged at parity to the US dollar, give the conversion once only.

Spaces
There is no space between the currency symbol and the figure
Eg Skr5,000.
Exceptions: Zl 100; NIS 100; Afl 100.

Cents

Write US cents, eg 66 US cents, not US$0.66, unless this is a convention for a particular commodity, in tables
and in exchange rates. It is acceptable to write 0.00 or 0.0 in the dollar column of a table.

US dollar
Always write US dollar on first mention in each paragraph, whether other dollar currencies are mentioned or
not.

Exchange-rate format
Exchange rates are written with a colon (not an equal sign) and with the US dollar equivalent on the right:
Eg €5.97:US$1.

Spelling out
In text, always spell out the currency name if it is not attached to a number. Exchange rates mentioned in the
text are written as yen:US dollar exchange rate, euro:US dollar exchange rate etc.

Capital letters
Currency names do not take an initial capital.
Exceptions: the Brazilian Real, to avoid confusion; and when the currency's name is attached to an adjective,
like the Jamaican dollar (as the country adjective has an initial capital). The currency will have an initial capital
only if it is spelt out (ie not abbreviated to form a currency symbol) when attached to the numbers.
Eg Lari500m; Manat1,575; Kina2m. But "The manat depreciated in 2016, as did the lari."

SDRs
Special drawing rights are abbreviated to SDR when combined with amounts: eg SDR500m.
See regional style guides for names of currencies.