A country's
gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is of ...
(GDP) at
purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita is the PPP value of all final
goods and services produced within an
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...
in a given year, divided by the average (or mid-year) population for the same year. This is similar to nominal GDP per capita, but adjusted for the
cost of living in each country.
In 2019, the estimated average GDP per capita (PPP) of all of the countries of the world was
Int$ 18,381. For rankings regarding wealth, see
list of countries by wealth per adult.
Method
The
gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is of ...
(GDP)
per capita figures on this page are derived from PPP calculations. Such calculations are prepared by various organizations, including the
IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glob ...
and the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
. As estimates and assumptions have to be made, the results produced by different organizations for the same country are not hard facts and tend to differ, sometimes substantially, so they should be used with caution.
Comparisons of national wealth are frequently made on the basis of ''nominal'' GDP and
savings
Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
(not just income), which do not reflect differences in the
cost of living in different countries (''see
List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita''); hence, using a PPP basis is arguably more useful when comparing differences in
living standards between economies because PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the
inflation rates
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...
of the countries, rather than using only
exchange rates
In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...
, which may distort the real differences in income.
This is why GDP (PPP) per capita is often considered one of the indicators of a country's standard of living, although this can be problematic because GDP per capita is not a measure of
personal income. (''See
Standard of living and GDP''.)
GDP (PPP) and GDP (PPP) per capita are usually measured by
international dollar
The international dollar (int'l dollar or intl dollar, symbols Int'l$., Intl$., Int$), also known as Geary–Khamis dollar (symbols G-K$ or GK$), is a hypothetical unit of currency that has the same purchasing power parity that the U.S. dolla ...
, which is a hypothetical
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general ...
that has the same purchasing power in every economy as the
U.S. dollar
The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.
Table
All figures are in current
international dollar
The international dollar (int'l dollar or intl dollar, symbols Int'l$., Intl$., Int$), also known as Geary–Khamis dollar (symbols G-K$ or GK$), is a hypothetical unit of currency that has the same purchasing power parity that the U.S. dolla ...
s, and
rounded to the nearest
whole number.
''The table initially ranks each country or territory with their latest available year's estimates, and can be reranked by either of the sources''
* ''Nearly all country links in the table connect to articles titled "Income in (''country'' or ''territory'')" or to "Economy of (''country'' or ''territory'')".''
Footnotes
Expanding the coverage of illegal economic activities in euro area national accounts
The share of the shadow economy is significant in many European countries, ranging from less than 10 to over 40 percent of GDP.
Since 2014, EU member states have been encouraged by Eurostat, the official statistics body, to include some illegal activities.
Distorted GDP-per-capita for tax havens
There are many natural economic reasons for GDP-per-capita to vary between jurisdictions (e.g. places rich in Oil & Gas reserves tend to have high GDP-per-capita figures). However, it is increasingly being recognized that
tax havens
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
, or
corporate tax haven
Corporate haven, corporate tax haven, or multinational tax haven is used to describe a jurisdiction that multinational corporations find attractive for establishing subsidiaries or incorporation of regional or main company headquarters, mostly du ...
s, have distorted economic data which produces artificially high, or inflated, GDP-per-capita figures.
It is estimated that over 15% of global jurisdictions are tax havens (see
tax haven lists).
[ The paper implicitly adopts the "smaller" tax haven approach, i.e., disregarding larger countries which have either low taxes rates (for example, ]Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
), or systems of taxation which permit them to be used to structure tax avoidance schemes (for example, the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
). It also excludes non-sovereign tax havens (for example, Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
or Labuan). An IMF investigation estimates that circa 40% of global foreign direct investment flows, which heavily influence the GDP of various jurisdictions, are described as "phantom" transactions.
In 2017, Ireland's economic data became so distorted by U.S. multinational tax avoidance strategies (see
leprechaun economics), also known as
BEPS
Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) refers to corporate tax planning strategies used by multinationals to "shift" profits from higher-tax jurisdictions to lower-tax jurisdictions or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic a ...
actions, that Ireland effectively abandoned GDP (and GNP) statistics as credible measures of its economy, and created a replacement statistic called
modified gross national income (or GNI*). Ireland is one of the world's largest
corporate tax haven
Corporate haven, corporate tax haven, or multinational tax haven is used to describe a jurisdiction that multinational corporations find attractive for establishing subsidiaries or incorporation of regional or main company headquarters, mostly du ...
s.
A list of the top 15 GDP-per-capita countries from 2016 to 2017, contains most of the
major global tax havens (see
GDP-per-capita tax haven proxy for more detail):
See also
*
List of countries by GDP (nominal)
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or go ...
*
List of countries by past and projected GDP (PPP) per capita
This is an alphabetical list of countries by past and projected Gross Domestic Product per capita, based on the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) methodology, not on official exchange rates. Values are given in USDs. These figures have been taken fr ...
*
List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita
*
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita growth rate
*
List of IMF ranked countries by GDP
This is an alphabetical list of countries by GDP published by IMF. This list includes GDP (nominal), GDP (nominal) per capita, GDP (PPP), GDP (PPP) per capita, Population, and PPP.
Circa 2016
Old GDP published by IMF; Irmak Çakıroğlu
2015
...
*
Quality of life
Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...
*
Big Mac Index
*
Government spending
Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual ...
Notes
References
External links
IMF DataMapper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gdp (Ppp) Per Capita
GDP (PPP) per capita
*GDP (PPP) per capita