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GDP per capita, long-run history: compare countries

See GDP per capita, long-run history for up to four countries side by side.

To start, we chose Brazil, United States, Germany. Add or remove countries to compare the ones you want.

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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 BrazilUnited StatesGermany
9,44244,57632,088
9,83445,88633,367
9,95345,87834,260
10,24546,26634,591
10,35547,15834,716
10,95048,49335,529
11,30649,65536,206
11,76750,49038,014
12,50050,90239,752
13,16450,27640,715
13,18148,45338,963
14,21649,26741,110
14,83149,67543,189
14,98550,43643,288
15,30551,01143,359
15,25251,79744,133
14,58452,80844,405
13,99153,30145,030
14,06354,15246,065
14,19855,45546,377
14,25856,46946,762
13,68654,37944,996
14,29357,52346,159
14,64058,48746,648

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

Brazil

  • 1800 - 1870: 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)
  • 1850–1899: Barro, R.J. and J.F. Ursua, (2008). “Macroeconomic Crises since 1870” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(1 (Spring), pages 255-350
  • 1900-1950: A. Maddison and Associates, The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity and Growth: Brazil and Mexico, Oxford University Press, New York 1992;

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.