Glossary · Economy
GDP per capita
GDP per capita is a country’s GDP divided by its population: the average value of output per person in a year.
Also called: GDP per person, per capita GDP, GDP per head, income per person
In 2025, current dollars.
All countries’ GDP ÷ their population, 2025.
Ireland, 2025. Lowest: Burundi, $234.
In plain words
If a class of 30 students bakes and sells $3,000 worth of cookies, each student produced $100 on average. Do the same with a whole country, its yearly GDP divided by the number of people who live there, and you get GDP per capita. “Per capita” is Latin for “per head”.
It turns giant totals into a number you can compare. China’s economy is far bigger than Switzerland’s, but it is shared by more than a billion more people, so per person Switzerland is much richer.
The world as a whole produced about $14,541 per person in 2025. The US produced about $90,027, 6.19 times the world average.
Example
Two made-up countries
- Bigland: GDP $20 trillion, 1.4 billion people: $20,000,000,000,000 ÷ 1,400,000,000 = $14,286 per person.
- Smallia: GDP $1 trillion, 10 million people: $100,000 per person.
- Bigland’s economy is 20 times larger, but each person in Smallia produces 7 times as much.
Total GDP tells you an economy’s weight in the world; GDP per person tells you, roughly, how well off its people are.
One level deeper
Comparing countries in US dollars has a catch: a dollar buys much more in India than in Switzerland. That is why economists often use GDP per capita at purchasing-power parity (PPP), which prices everything at the same international prices.
It is an average, not what a typical person earns, and big companies can distort it. Small countries that host many multinationals, such as Ireland and Luxembourg, rank high partly because big firms book profits there. Among countries of a million people or more, the highest in 2025 was Ireland at $131,592 and the lowest Burundi at $234: a gap of 563 times.
Over long periods it is the clearest sign of progress. In real terms, US GDP per person is about 21.9 times its level of 1820, according to the Maddison Project’s historical estimates.
GDP per person: the world and eleven big economies
In current US dollars at market exchange rates, for the latest year with data. The gap between the richest and the poorest big economies is far wider than most people guess.
The numbers behind the chart
| 2025 | |
|---|---|
| United States | $90K |
| Germany | $60.5K |
| United Kingdom | $57.6K |
| South Korea | $36.2K |
| Japan | $36K |
| Russia | $17.5K |
| World | $14.5K |
| Mexico | $13.9K |
| China | $13.9K |
| Brazil | $10.7K |
| India | $2,702 |
| Nigeria | $1,224 |
Why it matters
It is the most common yardstick of how rich a country is, and of how living standards change over time.
International bodies sort countries into low, middle and high income with a close cousin, GNI per capita, and that helps decide who can borrow on soft terms from the World Bank.
Growth per person, not total growth, is what makes the average person better off: if GDP grows 2% and the population also grows 2%, the average person is no richer.
A common mistake
Myth: GDP per capita is what the average person earns.
In fact: It is output per person, not income in anyone’s pocket: it includes company profits, government spending and investment. In the US, GDP per person was $90,252 in 2025, while the median household (about 2.5 people) had a money income of $87,460 in 2025.
Questions people ask
Which country has the highest GDP per capita?
Among countries with at least a million people, Ireland in 2025, at $131,592 per person; the US was number 5 on that list. Some tiny places rank higher still. Our GDP per capita page ranks every country.
What is the difference between GDP per capita and GDP per capita at PPP?
The first converts each country’s GDP into dollars at market exchange rates. The PPP version adjusts for what money buys at home, so it is better for comparing living standards. $100 changed into rupees bought about as much in India as $435 would in the US (2025).
What is the world’s GDP per capita?
About $14,541 in 2025 at market exchange rates: the world’s GDP divided by everyone alive.
Read more on BigCapital
About the numbers
- The numbers on this page are recalculated from the data every night; the sources are listed at the end of the page.
- GDP per person (Maddison Project): Maddison Project Database, version 2023, by Jutta Bolt and Jan Luiten van Zanden, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
- GDP, current US dollars: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: GDP (current US$) (NY.GDP.MKTP.CD). Original source: Country official statistics, National Statistical Organizations and/or Central Banks; National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB).
- GDP per capita, current US dollars: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: GDP per capita (current US$) (NY.GDP.PCAP.CD). Original source: Country official statistics, National Statistical Organizations and/or Central Banks; National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB).
- GDP per capita at purchasing power parity: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) (NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD). Original source: International Comparison Program (ICP), World Bank (WB); The Eurostat PPP Programme, Eurostat (ESTAT); The OECD PPP Programme, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB); National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); World Economic Outlook database, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- Population: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL). Original source: World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN); Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices, National Statistical Offices (NSOs); Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, Eurostat (ESTAT); Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), United Nations (UN).
- Gross domestic product (current dollars): U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Income and Product Accounts, Table 1.1.5, series GDP; retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
- US median and mean household income: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC), Historical Income Tables: Households, Table H-5 (All Races).
- US population (midperiod, BEA): U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Income and Product Accounts, Table 2.1, series B230RC0A052NBEA; retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
- World Bank figures in current US dollars at market exchange rates; the newest year covers fewer countries. The Maddison Project’s long-run estimates are in 2011 international dollars and are rough before the 20th century.
- This page explains a term. It is not investment advice.