Global Statistics

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

20.07.2005 · Research Group on the Global Future

Wealth is a precondition for, among other things, health care, education and digital connectivity. GDP per capita is the most compact indicator for wealth worldwide. However, it does not tell about equality in distribution within countries and thus not about individual richness or poverty. In addition, attention must be paid to the difference in GDP per capita based on ex-change rates, and GDP per capita based on purchasing power parities. The discrepancy between those two indicators is especially significant in Japan and Switzerland, where costs for daily life are extremely high, and where the currency may be overvalued. In emerging markets such as Mexico, where costs for daily life are less and the currency tends to be undervalued, poverty is not as extreme as GDP based on exchange rates seems to indicate.

Source: OECD 2003, US$ PPP

Source: OECD, 2003, US$ PPP

Source: CIA, 2003, US$ PPP

Source: World Bank, 2005 World Development Indicators