Metric guide
GDP per capita by country: average output per person.
GDP per capita divides total economic output by population. It is useful when the question shifts from country scale to average economic output per resident.
Because it is a rate, Compare Countries does not add GDP per capita across groups. The map uses a colour gradient instead, so relative ranking is visible without implying a false total.
Reading the distribution
Why the denominator reshapes the ranking
Luxembourg leads the published observations, and the first value is about 18.6 times the median observation. Smaller high-output economies can therefore outrank countries with far larger total GDP.
This ranking describes an average, not the distribution of income within a country. It is useful for changing the scale question, but it should be paired with total GDP, population and inequality measures before drawing a broader welfare conclusion.
Where average output per person is highest
High GDP per capita rankings often include smaller economies and financial centers. Read this as an average output measure, not as a total economic-size ranking.
| Rank | Country | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | $147,252 | 2025 |
| 2 | Ireland | $131,592 | 2025 |
| 3 | Switzerland | $114,769 | 2025 |
| 4 | Singapore | $98,814 | 2025 |
| 5 | Iceland | $98,323 | 2025 |
| 6 | Norway | $94,594 | 2025 |
| 7 | United States of America | $90,027 | 2025 |
| 8 | Denmark | $76,970 | 2025 |
| 9 | Macau | $75,902 | 2025 |
| 10 | Netherlands | $73,684 | 2025 |
| 11 | Qatar | $72,525 | 2025 |
| 12 | Australia | $65,130 | 2025 |
Questions this metric can answer
- Compare average economic output across countries.
- See how the ranking changes when moving from total GDP to per-person GDP.
- Use selected-country gradients when you want to compare close peers.
Interpretation limits
- GDP per capita is an average and does not describe income distribution.
- Small high-income economies can rank very highly even though their total GDP is modest.
- Do not add GDP per capita across countries; compare values country by country.
How to read a per-person economic measure
The source publishes GDP per capita as current U.S. dollars per person. Conceptually it relates nominal output to population, but Compare Countries uses the source observation rather than recomputing a value from potentially different releases.
The metric is non-additive. Countries retain individual values and the map uses a gradient; adding national per-person values would produce no meaningful group statistic.
Test the pattern on the map
Open the live map with GDP per capita selected. Click countries, build groups or switch to another metric while keeping the same selection. For a guided starting point, read the highest GDP per capita example.
Source, year and coverage
Source: World Development Indicators. Coverage in this snapshot: 180 countries out of 242. Reference year: 2025.
Economic, demographic, industrial, defence, water and health indicators. Reuse note: WDI data is generally CC BY 4.0 and commercial use is allowed, but individual indicator metadata can identify third-party content with different terms.
Interpretation reviewed against the displayed snapshot on 26 September 2026. Corrections: contact@compare-countries.com.