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GDP per capita, long-run history: compare countries

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GDP per capita, long-run history by country

GDP per capita, long-run history

Annual, International dollars (2011 prices)

Source: Maddison Project Database 2023
GDP per capita, long-run history: latest observations by country
Date AustraliaUnited StatesGermanyMalta
35,55144,57632,08819,254
36,60345,88633,36720,435
37,27645,87834,26020,413
38,56746,26634,59120,874
39,52447,15834,71621,273
40,88848,49335,52921,233
41,90449,65536,20621,905
42,65150,49038,01422,234
44,03450,90239,75223,048
44,42250,27640,71523,675
44,68748,45338,96322,928
45,40049,26741,11023,633
46,13249,67543,18923,871
47,04550,43643,28824,630
47,26151,01143,35925,611
47,75451,79744,13327,008
48,14652,80844,40528,906
48,67553,30145,03029,207
49,00254,15246,06531,495
49,61455,45546,37732,293
49,81556,46946,76233,220
48,26954,37944,99629,704
50,70557,52346,15933,031
52,04958,48746,64834,496

Source: Bolt, J. and van Zanden, J.L. (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. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. The original sources are listed on each page.

All data sources

Original sources of these estimates

GDP pc: 2008 - 2022: Total Economy Database the Conference Board for all countries included in TED. Otherwise UN national accounts statistics

Australia

  • 1820-1828: Butlin, N.G. 'Our 200 Years', Queesland Calendar, 1988
  • 1828-1860: N.G. Butlin, "Contours of the Australian Economy 1788-1860", Australian Economic Review, Sept. 1986, pp. 112-13;
  • 1861-1938/9: N.G. Butlin, Australian Domestic Product, Investment and Foreign Borrowing 1861-1938/9, Cambridge, 1962,pp.460-1; amdended as indicated in N.G. Butlin, Investment in Australian Economic Development 1861-19000, Cambridge, 1964, p. 453 and with revised deflator shown in M.W. Butlin, A Preliminary Annual Databae 1900/1901 to 1973/1974, Discussion Paper 7701, Reserve Bank of Australia, 1977, p. 41
  • 1938/9-1950: from expenditure aggregates in 1966/7 prices in M.W. Butlin, RS/FLW/, p.85.

United States

  • 1650 - 1790: McCusker, John J., ‘Colonial Statistics’, Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Time to the Present, in S. B. Carter, S. S. Gartner, M. R. Haineset al. New York, Cambridge University Press. V-671.
  • 1790 - 1870: Sutch, R. (2006). National Income and Product. Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Time to the Present, in S. B. Carter, S. S. Gartner, M. R. Haineset al. New York, Cambridge University Press III-23-25.
  • 1800-1830: Prados de la Escosura, L. (2009). “Lost Decades? Economic Performance in Post-Independence Latin America,” Journal of Latin America Studies 41: 279–307. (updated data)
  • 1820-1950: GDP movement from Maddison (1995a), amended for 1820–70 to include income of the indigenous population (taken to be $400 per capita in 1820 and 1870).

Germany

  • 1500-1850: Pfister, U. (2022). Economic Growth in Germany, 1500–1850. The Journal of Economic History, 82(4), 1071–1107
  • 1850-1950: Hoffmann, Grumbach and Hesse, op. cit., pp. 454-5.

No separate list is published for Malta; the database as a whole is cited above.