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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 Puerto Rico, 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 Puerto RicoUnited StatesGermany
26,18644,57632,088
27,39245,88633,367
29,51745,87834,260
30,21846,26634,591
30,68847,15834,716
32,11148,49335,529
32,01449,65536,206
32,19550,49038,014
32,51150,90239,752
32,60450,27640,715
32,64848,45338,963
33,19549,26741,110
33,98149,67543,189
34,39550,43643,288
34,73651,01143,359
34,78751,79744,133
35,38452,80844,405
35,59553,30145,030
35,24854,15246,065
34,19055,45546,377
35,04156,46946,762
33,78754,37944,996
34,09557,52346,159
35,28158,48746,648

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

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 Puerto Rico; the database as a whole is cited above.