A measure of the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country attributable to each person living within it.
GDP per capita is calculated by dividing the gross domestic product of a jurisdiction by the number of people in that jurisdiction's population.
This measure can be seriously misleading. For example, gross domestic product includes elements that are rarely attributable to individuals such as corporate profits. In some jurisdictions where these are particularly significant, as is the case in tax haven locations such as Luxembourg and Ireland, GDP per capita measures appears to be particularly high when in reality the local population of the countries in question see little or no benefit arising as a consequence.
The measure also fails to take into account the distribution of income within the jurisdiction and can, therefore, hide gross inequality behind a veneer of respectability.
For a broader discussion of the weaknesses within the measurement of GDP, see the entry on that subject.
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