Our World
in Data
Oxford Martin School logoUniversity of Oxford logoGlobal Change Data Lab logo
Data

Gross domestic product (GDP)

In constant international-$. Historical data – Maddison Project Database
Learn more about data sources
View insights about this data

What you should know about this indicator

  • The Maddison Project Database is based on the work of many researchers who have produced estimates of economic growth and population for individual countries. The full list of sources for this historical data is given in the original dataset.
  • Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of the total value added from the production of goods and services in a country or region each year.
  • This indicator provides information on economic growth and income levels in the very long run. Some country estimates are available as far back as 1 CE, and regional estimates as far back as 1820 CE.
  • This data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.
  • This data is expressed in at 2011 prices, using a combination of 2011 and 1990 PPPs for historical data.
  • Time series for former countries and territories are calculated forward in time by estimating values based on their last official borders.
  • For more regularly updated estimates of GDP per capita since 1990, see the World Bank's indicator.
Learn more in the FAQs
Gross domestic product (GDP)
In constant international-$. Historical data – Maddison Project Database
Total economic output of a country or region per year. This data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.
Source
Bolt and van Zanden - Maddison Project Database 2023 – with major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
April 26, 2024
Next expected update
April 2027
Date range
1–2022
Unit
international-$ in 2011 prices

What you should know about this indicator

  • The Maddison Project Database is based on the work of many researchers who have produced estimates of economic growth and population for individual countries. The full list of sources for this historical data is given in the original dataset.
  • Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of the total value added from the production of goods and services in a country or region each year.
  • This indicator provides information on economic growth and income levels in the very long run. Some country estimates are available as far back as 1 CE, and regional estimates as far back as 1820 CE.
  • This data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.
  • This data is expressed in at 2011 prices, using a combination of 2011 and 1990 PPPs for historical data.
  • Time series for former countries and territories are calculated forward in time by estimating values based on their last official borders.
  • For more regularly updated estimates of GDP per capita since 1990, see the World Bank's indicator.
Learn more in the FAQs
Gross domestic product (GDP)
In constant international-$. Historical data – Maddison Project Database
Total economic output of a country or region per year. This data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.
Source
Bolt and van Zanden - Maddison Project Database 2023 – with major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
April 26, 2024
Next expected update
April 2027
Date range
1–2022
Unit
international-$ in 2011 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

Bolt and van Zanden – Maddison Project Database

The Maddison Project Database provides information on comparative economic growth and income levels over the very long run. The 2023 version of this database covers 169 countries and the period up to 2022. The new estimates are presented and discussed in Bolt and Van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41.

Retrieved on
April 26, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2023
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.
    

  • Bolt, Jutta and Jan Luiten van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41. DOI: 10.1111/joes.12618.
    • 

  • The Maddison Project Database is based on the work of many researchers who have produced estimates of economic growth and population for individual countries. The full list of sources for this historical data is given in the original dataset.
    •

The Maddison Project Database provides information on comparative economic growth and income levels over the very long run. The 2023 version of this database covers 169 countries and the period up to 2022. The new estimates are presented and discussed in Bolt and Van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41.

Retrieved on
April 26, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2023
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.
    

  • Bolt, Jutta and Jan Luiten van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41. DOI: 10.1111/joes.12618.
    • 

  • The Maddison Project Database is based on the work of many researchers who have produced estimates of economic growth and population for individual countries. The full list of sources for this historical data is given in the original dataset.
    •

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
Notes on our processing step for this indicator

Estimates of GDP are not provided directly from the source, so we obtained them by multiplying GDP per capita by population.

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: Gross domestic product (GDP)”, 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 Bolt and van Zanden. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20250903-083611/grapher/gdp-maddison-project-database.html [online resource] (archived on September 3, 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:

Bolt and van Zanden - Maddison Project Database 2023 – with major processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Bolt and van Zanden - Maddison Project Database 2023 – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Gross domestic product (GDP) – Maddison Project Database – In constant international-$. Historical data” [dataset]. Bolt and van Zanden, “Maddison Project Database 2023” [original data]. Retrieved September 3, 2025 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20250903-083611/grapher/gdp-maddison-project-database.html (archived on September 3, 2025).