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GDP per capita

In constant international-$ – World Bank

What you should know about this indicator

  • GDP per capita is a comprehensive measure of people's average income. It helps compare income levels across countries and track how they change over time. It is especially useful for understanding trends in economic growth and living standards.
  • GDP per capita is calculated as the value of all final goods and services produced each year in a country (the ), divided by the population. It represents the average economic output per person.
  • This indicator shows the large inequality between people in different countries. In the poorest countries, average incomes are below $1,000 per year; in rich countries, they are more than 50 times higher.
  • This data is expressed in constant international dollars to adjust for inflation and differences in living costs between countries. Read more in our article, What are international dollars?
  • This data comes from the World Bank and starts in 1990. For estimates going back several centuries, explore our chart of GDP per capita from the Maddison Project Database.
Learn more in the FAQs

How is this data described by its producer - World Bank?

GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP). PPP GDP is gross domestic product converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates. An international dollar has the same purchasing power over GDP as the U.S. dollar has in the United States. GDP at purchaser's prices is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the country plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in constant 2021 international dollars.

Statistical concept and methodology:

For the concept and methodology of PPP, please refer to the International Comparison Program (ICP)’s website (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp).

GDP per capita
In constant international-$ – World Bank
Average economic output per person in a country or region per year. This data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.
Source
Eurostat, OECD, and World Bank (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
January 24, 2025
Next expected update
January 2026
Date range
1990–2023
Unit
international-$ in 2021 prices

Frequently Asked Questions

What are international-$ and why are they used to measure incomes?

Much of the economic data we use to understand the world, such as the incomes people receive or the goods and services firms produce and people buy, is recorded in the local currencies of each country. That means the numbers start out in rupees, US dollars, yuan, and many others, and without adjusting for inflation over time. This is known as being in “current prices” or “nominal” terms.

Before these figures can be meaningfully compared, they need to be converted into common units. International dollars (int.-$) are a hypothetical currency that is used for this.

The idea is simple: one international dollar should buy the same quantity and quality of goods and services, no matter where or when it is spent. To achieve this, international dollars adjust for two things. First, they account for inflation within each country, so that values from different years can be compared (showing “constant” prices). Second, they account for differences in living costs across countries. This second adjustment uses purchasing power parity (PPP) rates, which reflect how much local currency is needed to buy what one US dollar would buy in the United States.

The United States is the benchmark, so that one 2021 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2021. One 2011 int.-$ is defined in the same way, but for prices in 2011.

You can read more in our article, What are international dollars?

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Eurostat, OECD, and World Bank – World Development Indicators

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates.

Retrieved on
January 24, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
International Comparison Program, World Bank | World Development Indicators database, World Bank | Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme. Indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2025). Accessed on 2025-01-24.

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates.

Retrieved on
January 24, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
International Comparison Program, World Bank | World Development Indicators database, World Bank | Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme. Indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2025). Accessed on 2025-01-24.

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: GDP per capita”, part of the following publication: Max Roser, Bertha Rohenkohl, Pablo Arriagada, Joe Hasell, Hannah Ritchie, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (2023) - “Economic Growth”. Data adapted from Eurostat, OECD, and World Bank. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20250825-062108/grapher/gdp-per-capita-worldbank.html [online resource] (archived on August 25, 2025).
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Eurostat, OECD, and World Bank (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Eurostat, OECD, and World Bank (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “GDP per capita – World Bank – In constant international-$” [dataset]. Eurostat, OECD, and World Bank, “World Development Indicators” [original data]. Retrieved August 25, 2025 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20250825-062108/grapher/gdp-per-capita-worldbank.html (archived on August 25, 2025).