List of regions by past GDP (PPP) per capita
Encyclopedia
These are lists of regions and countries by their estimated real
gross domestic product
(GDP) per capita in terms of purchasing power parity
(PPP), the value of all final goods and services produced within a country/region in a given year divided by population
size. GDP per capita dollar (international dollar) estimates here are derived from PPP estimates.
In the absence of sufficient data for nearly all economies until well into the 19th century, past GDP per capita cannot be calculated, but only roughly estimated. A key notion in the whole process is that of subsistence, the income
level which is necessary for sustaining one's life. Since pre-modern societies, by modern standards, were characterized by a very low degree of urbanization
and a large majority of people working in the agricultural sector, economic historians prefer to express income in cereal
units. To achieve comparability over space and time, these numbers are then converted into monetary units such as International Dollars, a step which leaves a relatively wide margin of interpretation.
. For his separate estimate of Roman
GDP (PPP) per capita and that of other authors, see below.
. Unlike other estimates on this page, the GNP (PPP) per capita is given here in 1960 US dollars
. Unlike Maddison, Bairoch allows for the fluctuation of borders, basing his estimates mostly on the historical boundaries at the given points in time.
's numbers for Western Europe
by the Italian economists Elio Lo Cascio
and Paolo Malanima
. According to their calculations, the basic level of European GDP (PPP) per capita was historically higher, but its increase was less pronounced.
, following the pioneering studies by Keith Hopkins
(1980) and Raymond Goldsmith
(1984). The estimates by Peter Temin
, Angus Maddison
, Branko Milanovic
and Peter Fibiger Bang
follow the basic method established by Goldsmith, varying mainly only in their set of initial numbers; these are then stepped up to estimations of the expenditure checked by those on the income side. Walter Scheidel
/Steven Friesen determine GDP per capita on the relationship between certain significant economic indicators which were historically found to be plausible; two independent control assumptions provide the upper and lower limit of the probable size of the Roman GDP per capita.
Italia is considered the richest region, due to tax transfers from the provinces
and the concentration of elite income in the heartland; its GDP per capita is estimated at having been around 40% to 66% higher than in the rest of the empire.
The GDP per capita of the Byzantine Empire
, the continuation of the Roman Empire in the east, has been estimated by the World Bank
economist Branko Milanovic to range between $680 and 770 (in 1990 International Dollars) at its peak around 1000 AD, the reign of Basil II
. This is 1.7 times the subsistence level as compared to the slightly higher value of 2.1 for the Roman Empire under Augustus
(30 BC–14 AD).
Real versus nominal value
In economics, nominal value refers to a value expressed in money terms in a given year or series of years. By contrast, real value adjusts nominal value to remove effects of price changes over time...
gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
(GDP) per capita in terms of purchasing power parity
Purchasing power parity
In economics, purchasing power parity is a condition between countries where an amount of money has the same purchasing power in different countries. The prices of the goods between the countries would only reflect the exchange rates...
(PPP), the value of all final goods and services produced within a country/region in a given year divided by population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
size. GDP per capita dollar (international dollar) estimates here are derived from PPP estimates.
In the absence of sufficient data for nearly all economies until well into the 19th century, past GDP per capita cannot be calculated, but only roughly estimated. A key notion in the whole process is that of subsistence, the income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
level which is necessary for sustaining one's life. Since pre-modern societies, by modern standards, were characterized by a very low degree of urbanization
Urbanization
Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
and a large majority of people working in the agricultural sector, economic historians prefer to express income in cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
units. To achieve comparability over space and time, these numbers are then converted into monetary units such as International Dollars, a step which leaves a relatively wide margin of interpretation.
World 1–2003 (Maddison)
The following estimates are taken exclusively from the 2007 monograph Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD by the British economist Angus MaddisonAngus Maddison
Angus Maddison was a British economist and a world scholar on quantitative macroeconomic history, including the measurement and analysis of economic growth and development...
. For his separate estimate of Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
GDP (PPP) per capita and that of other authors, see below.
| Country / Region | 1 | 1000 | 1500 | 1600 | 1700 | 1820 | 1870 | 1913 | 1950 | 1973 | 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
425 | 425 | 707 | 837 | 993 | 1,218 | 1,863 | 3,465 | 3,706 | 11,235 | 21,231 |
| Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
450 | 425 | 875 | 976 | 1,144 | 1,319 | 2,692 | 4,220 | 5,462 | 12,170 | 21,205 |
| Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... |
400 | 400 | 738 | 875 | 1,039 | 1,274 | 2,003 | 3,912 | 6,943 | 13,945 | 23,133 |
| Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
400 | 400 | 453 | 538 | 638 | 781 | 1,140 | 2,111 | 4,253 | 11,085 | 20,513 |
| France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
473 | 425 | 727 | 841 | 910 | 1,135 | 1,876 | 3,485 | 5,271 | 13,114 | 21,861 |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
408 | 410 | 688 | 791 | 910 | 1,077 | 1,839 | 3,648 | 3,881 | 11,966 | 19,144 |
| Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
809 | 450 | 1,100 | 1,100 | 1,100 | 1,117 | 1,499 | 2,564 | 3,502 | 10,634 | 19,151 |
| Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
425 | 425 | 761 | 1,381 | 2,130 | 1,838 | 2,757 | 4,049 | 5,996 | 13,082 | 21,480 |
| Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... |
400 | 400 | 610 | 664 | 723 | 801 | 1,360 | 2,447 | 5,430 | 11,323 | 26,035 |
| Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
400 | 400 | 695 | 824 | 977 | 1,198 | 1,662 | 3,096 | 6,739 | 13,493 | 21,555 |
| Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... |
425 | 410 | 632 | 750 | 890 | 1,090 | 2,102 | 4,266 | 9,064 | 18,204 | 22,243 |
| UK | 400 | 400 | 714 | 974 | 1,250 | 1,706 | 3,190 | 4,921 | 6,939 | 12,025 | 21,310 |
| 12 country average | 599 | 425 | 798 | 907 | 1,032 | 1,243 | 2,087 | 3,688 | 5,018 | 12,157 | 20,597 |
| Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... |
450 | 425 | 606 | 740 | 819 | 923 | 975 | 1,250 | 2,086 | 7,063 | 13,807 |
| Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
498 | 450 | 661 | 853 | 853 | 1,008 | 1,207 | 2,056 | 2,189 | 7,661 | 17,021 |
| Other | 539 | 400 | 472 | 525 | 584 | 711 | 1,027 | 1,840 | 2,538 | 7,614 | 17,351 |
| West European Western Europe Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the... average |
576 | 427 | 771 | 889 | 997 | 1,202 | 1,960 | 3,457 | 4,578 | 11,417 | 19,912 |
| Eastern Europe Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"... |
412 | 400 | 496 | 548 | 606 | 683 | 937 | 1,695 | 2,111 | 4,988 | 6,476 |
| Former USSR | 400 | 400 | 499 | 552 | 610 | 688 | 943 | 1,488 | 2,841 | 6,059 | 5,397 |
| USA | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 527 | 1,257 | 2,445 | 5,301 | 9,561 | 16,689 | 29,037 |
| Other Western offshoots | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 408 | 761 | 2,244 | 4,752 | 7,425 | 13,399 | 22,853 |
| Average Western offshoots | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 476 | 1,202 | 2,419 | 5,233 | 9,268 | 16,179 | 28,039 |
| Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... |
400 | 400 | 425 | 454 | 568 | 759 | 674 | 1,732 | 2,365 | 4,853 | 7,137 |
| Other Latin America Latin America Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area... |
400 | 400 | 410 | 431 | 502 | 661 | 677 | 1,438 | 2,531 | 4,435 | 5,465 |
| Latin American average | 400 | 400 | 416 | 438 | 527 | 691 | 676 | 1,493 | 2,503 | 4,513 | 5,786 |
| Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
400 | 425 | 500 | 520 | 570 | 669 | 737 | 1,387 | 1,921 | 11,434 | 21,218 |
| China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture... |
450 | 450 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 530 | 552 | 448 | 838 | 4,803 |
| India India India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... |
450 | 450 | 550 | 550 | 550 | 533 | 533 | 673 | 619 | 853 | 2,160 |
| Other east Asia | 425 | 425 | 554 | 564 | 561 | 568 | 594 | 842 | 771 | 1,485 | 3,854 |
| West Asia | 522 | 621 | 590 | 591 | 591 | 607 | 742 | 1,042 | 1,776 | 4,854 | 5,899 |
| Asian average (excl. Japan) | 457 | 466 | 572 | 576 | 572 | 577 | 548 | 658 | 639 | 1,225 | 3,842 |
| Africa Africa Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area... |
472 | 425 | 414 | 422 | 421 | 420 | 500 | 637 | 890 | 1,410 | 1,549 |
| World Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets... |
467 | 450 | 566 | 596 | 616 | 667 | 873 | 1,526 | 2,113 | 4,091 | 6,516 |
| Country / Region | 1 | 1000 | 1500 | 1600 | 1700 | 1820 | 1870 | 1913 | 1950 | 1973 | 2003 |
Europe 1830–1938 (Bairoch)
The following estimates were made by the economic historian Paul BairochPaul Bairoch
Born of Jewish parents who emigrated from Poland, Paul Bairoch was one of the great post-war economic historians who specialized in global economic history, urban history and historical demography...
. Unlike other estimates on this page, the GNP (PPP) per capita is given here in 1960 US dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
. Unlike Maddison, Bairoch allows for the fluctuation of borders, basing his estimates mostly on the historical boundaries at the given points in time.
| Country / Region | 1830 | 1840 | 1850 | 1860 | 1870 | 1880 | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1913 | 1925 | 1938 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 655 | 640 |
| Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in... |
250 | 266 | 283 | 288 | 305 | 315 | 361 | 414 | 469 | 498 | - | - |
| Baltic countries Baltic countries The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The... |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 443 | 501 |
| Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
295 | 345 | 411 | 490 | 571 | 589 | 630 | 721 | 854 | 894 | 985 | 1,015 |
| Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east... |
- | - | - | 210 | 220 | 210 | 250 | 260 | 270 | 263 | 304 | 420 |
| Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992... |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 504 | 548 |
| Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... |
208 | 225 | 256 | 294 | 340 | 396 | 502 | 633 | 739 | 862 | 845 | 1,045 |
| Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
188 | 205 | 227 | 241 | 313 | 327 | 368 | 425 | 451 | 520 | 578 | 913 |
| France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
264 | 302 | 333 | 365 | 437 | 464 | 515 | 604 | 680 | 689 | 893 | 936 |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
245 | 267 | 308 | 354 | 426 | 443 | 537 | 639 | 705 | 743 | 712 | 1,126 |
| Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... |
- | 200 | 215 | 230 | 250 | 260 | 290 | 300 | 325 | 322 | 393 | 590 |
| Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 365 | 451 |
| Ireland Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 624 | 649 |
| Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
265 | 270 | 277 | 301 | 312 | 311 | 311 | 335 | 366 | 441 | 480 | 551 |
| Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
347 | 382 | 427 | 452 | 506 | 542 | 586 | 614 | 705 | 754 | 909 | 920 |
| Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... |
280 | 305 | 350 | 401 | 421 | 464 | 523 | 577 | 673 | 749 | 863 | 1,298 |
| Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 245 | 372 |
| Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... |
250 | 255 | 260 | 275 | 270 | 270 | 270 | 287 | 290 | 292 | 320 | 351 |
| Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... |
- | - | 190 | 200 | 210 | 230 | 246 | 275 | 307 | 336 | 316 | 343 |
| Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... /USSR |
170 | 170 | 175 | 178 | 250 | 224 | 182 | 248 | 287 | 326 | 232 | 458 |
| Serbia Serbia Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans... |
- | - | - | 220 | 230 | 240 | 250 | 260 | 282 | 284 | - | - |
| Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
263 | 288 | 313 | 346 | 329 | 323 | 321 | 351 | 370 | 367 | 426 | 337 |
| Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
194 | 198 | 211 | 225 | 246 | 303 | 356 | 454 | 593 | 680 | 765 | 1,097 |
| Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... |
276 | 315 | 391 | 480 | 549 | 676 | 705 | 785 | 895 | 964 | 1,020 | 1,204 |
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
346 | 394 | 458 | 558 | 628 | 680 | 785 | 881 | 904 | 965 | 970 | 1,181 |
| Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century.... |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 302 | 339 |
| Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting... |
240 | 260 | 283 | 310 | 359 | 366 | 388 | 455 | 499 | 534 | 515 | 671 |
| Western Europe Western Europe Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the... |
276 | - | - | 384 | - | - | - | 583 | - | 678 | 710 | 839 |
| Eastern Europe Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"... |
190 | - | - | 214 | - | - | - | 314 | - | 389 | 315 | 509 |
| Country / Region | 1830 | 1840 | 1850 | 1860 | 1870 | 1880 | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1913 | 1925 | 1938 |
Western Europe 1–1870 (Lo Cascio/Malanima)
The following estimates are taken from a revision of Angus MaddisonAngus Maddison
Angus Maddison was a British economist and a world scholar on quantitative macroeconomic history, including the measurement and analysis of economic growth and development...
's numbers for Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
by the Italian economists Elio Lo Cascio
Elio Lo Cascio
Elio Lo Cascio is an Italian historian, who teaches Roman History at the Sapienza University of Rome. Lo Cascio's main research interests are the institutional, administrative, social and economic history of Ancient Rome from the Republic to the Late Empire, and Roman population history.- Life :Lo...
and Paolo Malanima
Paolo Malanima
Paolo Malanima is an Italian economic historian and director of the Institute of Studies on Mediterranean Societies in Naples...
. According to their calculations, the basic level of European GDP (PPP) per capita was historically higher, but its increase was less pronounced.
| Authors | 1 | 1000 | 1500 | 1600 | 1700 | 1820 | 1870 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lo Cascio/Malanima | 1,000 | 900 | 1,350 | 1,250 | 1,400 | 1,350 | 1,960 |
| Maddison | 576 | 427 | 771 | 889 | 997 | 1,202 | 1,960 |
Roman and Byzantine Empires
Much of the recent work in estimating past GDP per capita has been done in the study of the Roman economyRoman economy
The history of the Roman economy covers the period of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire.Recent research has led to a positive reevaluation of the size and sophistication of the Roman economy within the constraints generally imposed on agricultural societies in the preindustrial age.- Gross...
, following the pioneering studies by Keith Hopkins
Keith Hopkins
Morris Keith Hopkins was a British historian and sociologist. He was professor of ancient history at the University of Cambridge from 1985 to 2000....
(1980) and Raymond Goldsmith
Raymond W. Goldsmith
Raymond W. Goldsmith was an American economist specialising in historical data on national income, saving, financial intermediation, and financial assets and liabilities....
(1984). The estimates by Peter Temin
Peter Temin
Dr. Peter Temin is a widely cited economist and economic historian, currently Gray Professor Emeritus of Economics, MIT and former head of the Economics Department....
, Angus Maddison
Angus Maddison
Angus Maddison was a British economist and a world scholar on quantitative macroeconomic history, including the measurement and analysis of economic growth and development...
, Branko Milanovic
Branko Milanovic
Branko Milanović is a Lead economist in the World Bank's research department in the unit dealing with poverty and inequality and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in Washington, D.C.....
and Peter Fibiger Bang
Peter Fibiger Bang
Peter Fibiger Bang is a Danish comparative historian. Bang's main research interests are Roman economic history and imperial power, historical sociology and world history, as well as the reception of Classical culture in later ages....
follow the basic method established by Goldsmith, varying mainly only in their set of initial numbers; these are then stepped up to estimations of the expenditure checked by those on the income side. Walter Scheidel
Walter Scheidel
Walter Scheidel is an Austrian historian who teaches ancient history at Stanford University, California. Scheidel's main research interests are ancient social and economic history, pre-modern historical demography, and comparative and transdisciplinary approaches to world history.- Life :From 1984...
/Steven Friesen determine GDP per capita on the relationship between certain significant economic indicators which were historically found to be plausible; two independent control assumptions provide the upper and lower limit of the probable size of the Roman GDP per capita.
| Unit | Goldsmith Raymond W. Goldsmith Raymond W. Goldsmith was an American economist specialising in historical data on national income, saving, financial intermediation, and financial assets and liabilities.... 1984 |
Hopkins Keith Hopkins Morris Keith Hopkins was a British historian and sociologist. He was professor of ancient history at the University of Cambridge from 1985 to 2000.... 1995/6 |
Temin Peter Temin Dr. Peter Temin is a widely cited economist and economic historian, currently Gray Professor Emeritus of Economics, MIT and former head of the Economics Department.... 2006 |
Maddison Angus Maddison Angus Maddison was a British economist and a world scholar on quantitative macroeconomic history, including the measurement and analysis of economic growth and development... 2007 |
Milanovic Branko Milanovic Branko Milanović is a Lead economist in the World Bank's research department in the unit dealing with poverty and inequality and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in Washington, D.C..... 2007 |
Bang Peter Fibiger Bang Peter Fibiger Bang is a Danish comparative historian. Bang's main research interests are Roman economic history and imperial power, historical sociology and world history, as well as the reception of Classical culture in later ages.... 2008 |
Scheidel Walter Scheidel Walter Scheidel is an Austrian historian who teaches ancient history at Stanford University, California. Scheidel's main research interests are ancient social and economic history, pre-modern historical demography, and comparative and transdisciplinary approaches to world history.- Life :From 1984... /Friesen 2009 |
Lo Cascio Elio Lo Cascio Elio Lo Cascio is an Italian historian, who teaches Roman History at the Sapienza University of Rome. Lo Cascio's main research interests are the institutional, administrative, social and economic history of Ancient Rome from the Republic to the Late Empire, and Roman population history.- Life :Lo... /Malanima Paolo Malanima Paolo Malanima is an Italian economic historian and director of the Institute of Studies on Mediterranean Societies in Naples... 2009 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approx. year | 14 AD | 14 AD | 100 AD | 14 AD | 14 AD | 14 AD | 150 AD | 150 AD | |
| GDP (PPP) per capita in | Sesterces | HS 380 | HS 225 | HS 166 | HS 380 | HS 380 | HS 229 | HS 260 | HS 380 |
| Wheat Wheat Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice... equivalent |
843 kg Kilogram The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water... |
491 kg | 614 kg | 843 kg | – | 500 kg | 680 kg | 855 kg | |
| 1990 International Dollars | – | – | – | $570 | $633 | – | $620 | $940 | |
Italia is considered the richest region, due to tax transfers from the provinces
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
and the concentration of elite income in the heartland; its GDP per capita is estimated at having been around 40% to 66% higher than in the rest of the empire.
The GDP per capita of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, the continuation of the Roman Empire in the east, has been estimated by the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
economist Branko Milanovic to range between $680 and 770 (in 1990 International Dollars) at its peak around 1000 AD, the reign of Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
. This is 1.7 times the subsistence level as compared to the slightly higher value of 2.1 for the Roman Empire under Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
(30 BC–14 AD).
External links
- Angus Maddison — Historical statistics
- Walter Scheidel — Papers on ancient economy and demography