Skip to content
ChartBasis
Choose a language: English

GDP per capita, long-run history: compare countries

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

Countries being compared

Four countries are being compared, the most the chart can show clearly. Remove one to add another.

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 MexicoUnited StatesGermanyBahrain
11,89444,57632,08815,264
12,61345,88633,36717,022
12,56545,87834,26018,153
12,64646,26634,59119,488
12,79447,15834,71621,392
13,28848,49335,52923,390
13,65649,65536,20625,231
14,28850,49038,01426,840
14,68550,90239,75228,885
14,80850,27640,71530,612
14,02748,45338,96331,730
14,69749,26741,11034,058
15,21049,67543,18936,372
15,54850,43643,28836,711
15,61551,01143,35937,704
15,88451,79744,13338,365
16,23552,80844,40538,370
16,70553,30145,03038,805
16,90054,15246,06539,553
17,05555,45546,37739,501
16,80256,46946,76239,500
15,25454,37944,99636,891
15,85357,52346,15937,323
16,23558,48746,64838,652

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

Mexico

  • 1550–1812: Arroyo Abad, L. and J.L. van Zanden (2016), “Growth under Extractive Institutions? Latin American Per Capita GDP in Colonial Times” Journal of Economic History 76(4): 1182–1215.
  • 1812–1870: Prados de la Escosura, L., (2009), ‘Lost decades? Economic performance in post-independence Latin America’, Journal of Latin America Studies, 41, pp. 279–307. (updated data)
  • 1870-1895: Bértola, L., & Ocampo, J. A. (2012). The Economic Development of Latin America since Independence. Oxford University Press, Table A.2
  • 1895–2003: 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

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 Bahrain; the database as a whole is cited above.