List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita

This is a list of countries of the world sorted by their Gross Domestic Product (nominal) per capita for the year 2004, the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year, divided by the average population for the same year. These figures do not take into account differences in the cost of living in different countries, and the results can vary greatly from one year to another based on fluctuations in the foreign exchange rates of the country's currency. Such fluctuations may change a country's ranking a great deal from one year to the next, even though they often make little of no difference to the standard of living of its population. Therefore these figures should be used with caution.

Related Topics:
Countries of the world - Gross Domestic Product - Per capita - 2004 - Foreign exchange rate

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Comparisons of national wealth are also frequently made on the basis of purchasing power parity (PPP), to adjust for differences in the cost of living in different countries. (See List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita.) PPP largely removes the exchange rate problem, but has its own drawbacks. It does not reflect the value of economic output in international trade, and it also requires more estimation than GDP per capita. On the whole PPP per capita figures are more narrowly spread than GDP per capita figures.

Related Topics:
Purchasing power parity - List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita

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Great care should be taken when using either set of figures to compare the wealth of two countries. Often people who wish to promote or denigrate a country will use the figure that suits their case best and ignore the other one, which may be substantially different, but a valid comparison of two economies should take both rankings into account, as well utilising other economic date to put an economy in context.

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The table below includes all 180 members of the International Monetary Fund for which information is available and the European Union.

Related Topics:
International Monetary Fund - European Union

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