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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 Romania, 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 RomaniaUnited StatesGermany
6,61444,57632,088
7,09045,88633,367
7,86045,87834,260
8,67446,26634,591
9,36947,15834,716
10,53148,49335,529
11,31449,65536,206
12,82350,49038,014
14,41950,90239,752
16,34750,27640,715
15,86648,45338,963
16,37749,26741,110
17,17449,67543,189
17,58150,43643,288
17,69151,01143,359
18,48751,79744,133
19,16252,80844,405
19,82653,30145,030
23,00454,15246,065
24,00055,45546,377
23,26856,46946,762
24,80054,37944,996
26,10357,52346,159
26,19858,48746,648

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

Romania

  • 1862–1995: Axenciuc, V. (2012). Produsul intern brut al Romaniei, Vol. 1, Institutl de Economie Nationala, Bucarest
  • 1915-1919 & 1949: Voinea, L., Cojocaru, A., Costache, B., Grigoraș, V., Lovin, H., Neagu, C., Orțan, D., & Tănase, A. (2019). One Hundred Years of Honesty: Recovering the Lost Memory of the Romanian Economy 1918-2018.

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.