what is per capita 
 per capita is a latin term that translates to by head per capita means the average per person and is often used in place of per person in statistical observances the phrase can be used for almost any kind of population description but is common when discussing economic data this could include a country s tara anand investopediaunderstanding per capita per capita is a term primarily used in economics and statistics to determine how certain metrics apply to a population it is most often used in reference to metrics of a country and how that metric applies to the population of that country the most common uses of per capita are gross domestic product gdp per capita and income per capita for national economic indicators such as gross domestic product gdp or gross national product gnp the total figure is certainly of interest however the per capita basis will give the analyst more granular information and allows for better apples to apples comparisons across different countries to calculate per capita take the number you are interested in e g a country s gdp and divide it by the population being analyzed per capita vs medianin contrast to per capita measures median numbers such as those for income provide an arguably more accurate picture of how much the residents of a particular country or area are likely to earn the median income is the income level in the very middle of a list of incomes exactly half of the people considered earn above the median income figure while the other half earn below that number for example real median household income in the united states in 2022 the most recent figures available was 75 149 whereas per capita income was quite lower at 41 261 1per capita expresses the average number for all of the citizens of a particular country or area therefore it can be a misleading number because it includes everyone from infants to older citizens and fails to account for statistical outliers the median income in this instance will take into account any outliers per capita and povertythe world bank issues data on total gdp and gdp per capita but each statistic can provide a conflicting perspective on the economic state of a country and the wealth of its people according to some economists a country s aggregate economic growth or its overall gdp is not what matters when the concern is the poverty level of individuals in a country for example if an outlet reports that the world s gdp grew by 3 it may sound like great news but it would fail to take into consideration that the world s population grew by 1 5 making the gdp number less impressive for countries where the population is not increasing rapidly the difference between gdp per capita growth and total gdp growth is minimal however for countries with rapidly growing populations such as those in africa and south asia reporting gdp growth can be highly misleading because a country can show gdp growth overall but a decline in per capita growth 2 afghanistan has been used as an example where over the past several years the nation s economy has been growing overall but declined on a per capita basis 34example of per capitain economic analysis per capita is also used as an apples to apples comparison between countries as all countries have different populations for example u s gross domestic product gdp was just over 21 5 trillion in 2022 according to the cia world factbook the latest information available from the cia the united states population in the same period was approximately 337 3 million that results in a gdp per capita of 64 600 5china is now the second largest economy with a gdp of around 25 6 trillion in 2022 6 however china has far more people than the united states so the per capita gdp for china is just 18 200 thus using per capita gdp shows that most chinese citizens are still earning far less than the average american despite the country s aggregate output 6