What is per-capita GDP?

Per-capita GDP is often analyzed alongside more traditional measures of GDP. Economists use this metric for insight into their own country’s domestic productivity and the productivity of other countries. Per-capita GDP considers both a country’s GDP and its population.

What is GDP per capita?

At its most basic interpretation, GDP per capita shows how much economic production value can be attributed to each individual citizen. Alternatively, this translates to a measure of national wealth since GDP market value per person also readily serves as a prosperity measure. GDP itself is the primary measure of a country's economic productivity.

What are the different uses of per capita?

The most common uses of per capita are gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and income per capita. For national economic indicators, such as gross domestic product (GDP) or gross national product (GNP), the total figure is certainly of interest.

How is GDP calculated?

It is derived from a straightforward division of total GDP (see definition of GDP) by the population. Per capita GDP is typically expressed in local current currency, local constant currency or a standard unit of currency in international markets, such as the U.S. dollar (USD).