List of regions by past GDP (PPP) per capita


These are lists of regions and countries by their estimated real gross domestic product per capita in terms of purchasing power parity, the value of all final goods and services produced within a country/region in a given year divided by population size. GDP per capita dollar estimates here are derived from PPP estimates.

Characteristics

In the absence of sufficient data for nearly all economies until well into the 19th century, past GDP per capita cannot be calculated, but only roughly estimated. A key notion in the whole process is that of subsistence, the income level which is necessary for sustaining one's life. Since pre-modern societies, by modern standards, were characterized by a very low degree of urbanization and a large majority of people working in the agricultural sector, economic historians prefer to express income in cereal units. To achieve comparability over space and time, these numbers are then converted into monetary units such as International Dollars, a step which leaves a relatively wide margin of interpretation.

World

1750–1990 (Bairoch)

In his 1995 book Economics and World History, economic historian Paul Bairoch gave the following estimates in terms of 1960 US dollars, for GNP per capita from 1750 to 1990, comparing what are today the Third World and the First World.
According to Bairoch, in the mid-18th century, "the average standard of living in Europe was a little bit lower than that of the rest of the world." He noted variations within both groups in 1750, citing the Asian civilizations of China and India as being the wealthiest among the Third World group, and Russia and Eastern/Southeastern Europe as being the poorest among the First World group. He estimated that, in 1750, the average per-capita income of the East was roughly equal to that of Western Europe, and that China's per-capita income was on-par with the leading European economies. He estimated that it was after 1800 that Western European per-capita income pulled ahead of the East. China was still ahead in 1800; his GNP per capita estimates for 1800, in terms of 1960 dollars, are $228 for China and $213 for Western Europe. But China fell behind not long after, falling to $204 by 1860.

1–2008 (Maddison)

The following estimates are taken exclusively from the 2007 monograph Contours of the World Economy, 1–2008 AD by the British economist Angus Maddison.
Country / Region110001500160017001820187019131950197319892008
Austria4254257078379931,2181,8633,4653,70611,23516,36024,131
Belgium4504258759761,1441,3192,6924,2205,46212,17016,74423,655
Denmark4004007388751,0391,2742,0033,9126,94313,94518,26124,621
Finland4004004535386387811,1402,1114,25311,08516,94624,344
France4734257278419101,1351,8763,4855,27113,11417,30022,223
Germany4084106887919101,0771,8393,6483,88111,96616,55820,801
Italy8094501,1001,1001,1001,1171,4992,5643,50210,63415,96919,909
Netherlands4254257611,3812,1301,8382,7574,0495,99613,08216,69524,695
Norway4004006106647238011,3602,4475,43011,32318,15728,500
Sweden4004006958249771,1981,6623,0966,73913,49317,71024,409
Switzerland4254106327508901,0902,1024,2669,06418,20420,93525,104
UK4004007149741,2501,7063,1904,9216,93912,02516,41423,742
12 country average5994257989071,0321,2432,0873,6885,01812,15716,75122,246
Portugal4504256067408199239751,2502,0867,06310,37214,436
Spain4984506618538531,0081,2072,0562,1897,66111,58219,706
Other5394004725255847111,0271,8402,5387,61410,82219,701
West European average5764277718899971,2021,9603,4574,57811,41715,80021,672
Eastern Europe4124004965486066839371,6952,1114,9885,9058,569
Former USSR4004004995526106889431,4882,8416,0597,1127,904
United States4004004004005271,2572,4455,3019,56116,68923,05931,178
Other Western offshoots4004004004004087612,2444,7527,42513,39916,72423,073
Average Western offshoots4004004004004761,2022,4195,2339,26816,17922,25530,152
Mexico4004004254545687596741,7322,3654,8535,8997,979
Other Latin America4004004104315026616771,4382,5314,4354,2035,750
Latin American average4004004164385276916761,4932,5034,5135,1316,973
Japan4004255005205706697371,3871,92111,43417,94322,816
China4504506006006006005305524488381,8346,725
India4504505505505505335336736198531,2702,975
Other east Asia4254255545645615685948427711,4852,5284,696
West Asia5226215905915916077421,0421,7764,8544,5906,947
Asian average 4574665725765725775486586391,2252,6835,611
Africa4724254144224214205006378901,4101,4441,780
World4674505665966166678731,5262,1134,0915,1307,614
Country / Region110001500160017001820187019131950197319892008

A From 1 AD to 1913 AD, India includes modern Pakistan and Bangladesh. From 1950 onwards, India refers only to the modern Republic of India.
Maddison's assumptions have been criticized and admired by academics and journalists. Bryan Haig has characterized Maddison's figures for 19th century Australia as "inaccurate and irrelevant", John Caldwell's assessed Maddison's arguments as having a "dangerous circularity", and W. W. Rostow said "this excessive macroeconomic bias also causes him to mis-date, in my view, the beginning of what he calls the capitalist era at 1820 rather than, say, the mid-1780s."
A number of economic historians have criticized Maddison's estimates for Asia. For example, W. J. MacPherson has described Maddison's work on India and Pakistan of using "dubious comparative data." Paul Bairoch has criticized Maddison's work for underestimating the per-capita incomes of non-European regions, particularly in Asia, before the 19th century; according to Bairoch, per-capita income in Asia was higher than in Europe prior to the 19th century. Others such as Andre Gunder Frank, Robert A. Denemark, Kenneth Pomeranz and Amiya Kumar Bagchi have criticized Maddison for grossly underestimating per-capita income and GDP growth rates in Asia for the three centuries up to 1820, and for refusing to take into account contemporary research demonstrating significantly higher per-capita income and growth rates in Asia. According to Frank and Denemark, his per-capita income figures for Asia up to 1820 are not credible, go "against what we know from sources" and may need to be adjusted by a factor of two. Maddison's estimates have also been critically reviewed and revised by the Italian economists Giovanni Federico and Elio Lo Cascio/Paolo Malanima.
However, economist and journalist Evan Davis has praised Maddison's research by citing it as a "fantastic publication" and that it was "based on the detailed scholarship of the world expert on historical economic data Angus Maddison." He also added that "One shouldn't read the book in the belief the statistics are accurate to 12 decimal places."

1–1800 (Maddison Project)

The Maddison Project is an international group of scholars who continue and build upon Maddison's work. In their 2014 report they concentrate on the pre-1820 period. Their revised figures show pre-industrial Europe to be richer, but its economic growth to be slower than previously thought. This is consistent with Maddison's view that the income gap to Asia was already large before the Industrial Revolution. The entirety of their GDP per capita estimates can be obtained from their online database. The following data selection they present in their published paper:
Country / Region173010001150128013001348140015001600166117001766185018701913192919371960197319952016
UK--1128-1058115912291717169716911610236528224248571680528601971813512187952744737334
Netherlands600------21512617479135603789489142664992728510237977614911235393364945600
Belgium1050-------24072607-2255-3029441569228291813811404199643002038766
France1050---1364146919061853174816611731174817662627308657337748738112170210973013537124
Germany--------23151631-1897-2884371573698184946415565241733457944689
Austria-------------2861322960096413547111302194793158241445
Finland---------1209-1352-1543184534174398557110087179462606937239
Russia------------------8972169391236923635
Ukraine-------------------1112365529214
USSR---------------304029794634848113026865118635
Yugoslavia--------------106618802427226545808759727815416
Czechoslovakia-------------202321823929570454039578132021491627738
Hungary--------------26565105602461888879136151398923279
Poland-------105010361266111312021189120219213383411937266253103861095024838
Italy1546----33023089356831252778-3009-3018314346985663565110922196323206133419
Spain1050-----1585143014771558-1422-201721403629493831395960137702446530110
Portugal1050--------1615185515541938159716872164278630415115122222050725346
Greece1400------------194023392264450553276052147271979022574
Turkey984-844816-------1114--1449183119312566376562751175617906
Egypt122512781050115511731068--1190-----19992799--26433450739911351
Iraq1225161014351190----------41975596--1913326256616113898
Jordan1225-------------14402058--47944915821111529
Iran1225------------.16702227--6003152051084916783
Indonesia-------------79789214981875186717762616591410911
India---------1055-970--7108959699001002113520536125
China----------1083-7916847547868008258431207336712569
South Korea--------------4656698611202169138951709536103
Japan-633-818829--527-903-990-107211602182318836436273179933157737465
United States-------------282537368101105431045018058266033939153015
Canada-------------2249286675218568756614804234053296143745
Mexico---------95014071758167212551246238528862955562490461136016133
Haiti------------------2512233017691728
Cuba-------------1294-3088365329754360507638107889
Brazil-------------11231405135418992086440478851090513873
Venezuela-------------212619961974331943825913175291583715219
Chile-------------11781629421749534433591368991235721696
Argentina-------------219825786670767172469765139861409118875
South Africa-----------4041329915521916-3553483672169906867412139
Australia-------------35895947936995621043915972233983390848845
Country / Region173010001150128013001348140015001600166117001766185018701913192919371960197319952016

China

Authors19801000102010601090112014001450150015701600165016611685170017241750176618001812182018401850187018871911191319331950
Broadberry 8531,00698287886310329908588858651,103727614599600
Xu 852820751622565538572568579
Maddison 450450600600600600530552448
Maddison Project cgdppc546399363431374436442467512515440
Maddison Project rgdpnapc629460417496397438422420457428370

Europe

Europe 1830–1938 (Bairoch)

The following estimates were made by the economic historian Paul Bairoch. Unlike other estimates on this page, the GNP per capita is given here in 1960 US dollars. Unlike Maddison, Bairoch allows for the fluctuation of borders, basing his estimates mostly on the historical boundaries at the given points in time.
Country / Region183018401850186018701880189019001910191319251938
Austria----------655640
Austria-Hungary250266283288305315361414469498--
Baltic countries----------443501
Belgium2953454114905715896307218548949851015
Bulgaria---210220210250260270263304420
Czechoslovakia----------504548
Denmark2082252562943403965026337398628451045
Finland188205227241313327368425451520578913
France264302333365437464515604680689893936
Germany2452673083544264435376397057437121126
Greece-200215230250260290300325322393590
Hungary----------365451
Ireland----------624649
Italy265270277301312311311335366441480551
Netherlands347382427452506542586614705754909920
Norway2803053504014214645235776737498631298
Poland----------245372
Portugal250255260275270270270287290292320351
Romania--190200210230246275307336316343
Russia/USSR170170175178250224182248287326232458
Serbia---220230240250260282284--
Spain263288313346329323321351370367426337
Sweden1941982112252463033564545936807651097
Switzerland27631539148054967670578589596410201204
United Kingdom3463944585586286807858819049659701181
Yugoslavia----------302339
Europe240260283310359366388455499534515671
Western Europe276--384---583-678710839
Eastern Europe190--214---314-389315509
Country / Region183018401850186018701880189019001910191319251938

Western Europe 1–1870 (Lo Cascio/Malanima)

The following estimates are taken from a revision of Angus Maddison's numbers for Western Europe by the Italian economists Elio Lo Cascio and Paolo Malanima. According to their calculations, the basic level of European GDP per capita was historically higher, but its increase was less pronounced.
Authors1100015001600170018201870
Lo Cascio/Malanima1,0009001,3501,2501,4001,3501,960
Maddison5764277718899971,2021,960

Indian subcontinent

According to evidence cited by the economic historians Immanuel Wallerstein, Irfan Habib, Percival Spear, and Ashok Desai, per-capita agricultural output and standards of consumption in 17th-century Mughal India was on-par with or higher than in 17th-century Europe and early 20th-century British India.
According to economic historian Prasannan Parthasarathi, earnings data from primary sources show that mid-late 18th-century real wages and living standards in Mughal Bengal and the South Indian Kingdom of Mysore were higher than in Britain, which in turn had the highest living standards in Europe. The economic historian Sashi Sivramkrishna estimates Mysore's average income in the late 18th century to be five times higher than subsistence level, i.e. five times higher than $400, or $2,000 per capita. According to Parthasarathi, real wage decline occurred in the early 19th century, or possibly beginning in the very late 18th century, under British rule.
Economic historians Angus Maddison, Stephen Broadberry, Johann Custodis, Bishnupriya Gupta, Jutta Bolt, Robert Inklaar, Herman de Jong and Jan Luiten van Zanden have offered differing estimates of historic productivity in region, but show a similar trend of a decline between the beginning of the 17th and middle of the 19th centuries, before recovering:
Authors11000150016001650170017501800182018501870190019301950
Broadberry & Gupta 782736719661639580586526
Broadberry & Gupta 682638622573569520556526
Maddison Project 758714697641620562568510657898823
Maddison 450450550550550533533533599726619

Ottoman Egypt

According to economic historian Jean Batou, Ottoman Egypt's average per-capita income in 1800 was comparable to that of leading Western European countries such as France, and higher than the overall average income of Europe and Japan. Barou estimated that, in terms of 1960 US dollars, Egypt in 1800 had a per-capita income of $232. In comparison, per-capita income in terms of 1960 dollars for France in 1800 was $240, for Eastern Europe in 1800 was $177, and for Japan in 1800 was $180.

Roman and Byzantine empires

Much of the recent work in estimating past GDP per capita has been done in the study of the Roman economy, following the pioneering studies by Keith Hopkins and Raymond Goldsmith. The estimates by Peter Temin, Angus Maddison, Branko Milanovic and Peter Fibiger Bang follow the basic method established by Goldsmith, varying mainly only in their set of initial numbers; these are then stepped up to estimations of the expenditure checked by those on the income side. Walter Scheidel/Steven Friesen determine GDP per capita on the relationship between certain significant economic indicators which were historically found to be plausible; two independent control assumptions provide the upper and lower limit of the probable size of the Roman GDP per capita.
Italia is considered the richest region, due to tax transfers from the provinces and the concentration of elite income in the heartland; its GDP per capita is estimated at having been around 40% to 66% higher than in the rest of the empire.
The GDP per capita of the Byzantine Empire, the continuation of the Roman Empire in the east, has been estimated by the World Bank economist Branko Milanovic to range between $680 and 770 at its peak around 1000 AD, the reign of Basil II. This is 1.7 times the subsistence level as compared to the slightly higher value of 2.1 for the Roman Empire under Augustus.