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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.

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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 United KingdomUnited StatesGermanyIreland
30,93344,57632,08835,377
31,94645,88633,36738,807
32,66045,87834,26040,966
33,27146,26634,59143,013
34,23247,15834,71644,373
34,86648,49335,52947,029
35,62449,65536,20649,223
36,21450,49038,01451,296
36,81750,90239,75252,322
36,26550,27640,71549,583
34,40248,45338,96347,376
34,75449,26741,11048,624
34,97149,67543,18948,980
35,24450,43643,28847,360
35,66151,01143,35948,181
36,52251,79744,13350,732
37,10152,80844,40553,197
37,59453,30145,03053,687
38,28454,15246,06555,466
38,70555,45546,37758,083
39,11356,46946,76259,734
34,65154,37944,99655,135
37,13457,52346,15957,278
38,40758,48746,64860,257

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

United Kingdom

  • 1: Scheidel, W. and Friesen, S. J., ‘The size of the economy and the distribution of income in the Roman Empire’, Journal of Roman Studies, 99 (2009), pp. 61–91
  • 1252–1700 (England): Broadberry, S.N., B. Campbell, A. Klein, M. Overton and B. van Leeuwen (2015), British Economic Growth 1270-1870 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • 1700–1870: Broadberry, S.N., B. Campbell, A. Klein, M. Overton and B. van Leeuwen (2015), British Economic Growth 1270-1870 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • 1870-1950: C.H. Feinstein, National Income Expenditure and Output of the United Kingdom 1855-1965, Cambridge, 1972

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.

Ireland

  • 1820, 1870, 1913: MPD 2013, Bolt and Van Zanden, 2014, The Maddison Project: collaborative research on historical national accounts. The Economic History Review, 67(3), 627–651
  • 1913-1926: P. Deane (1968), and Feinstein, 1972
  • 1926-1950: K.A. Kennedy, Productivity and Industrial Growth: The Irish Experience, Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 3.