GDP per person by country

What it is

GDP per person is a country's total output in a year divided by the number of people who live there, converted into US dollars at that year's exchange rates. It is a rough measure of how rich a country is on average.

Why it matters

It is the most common way to compare living standards between countries. It is an average, though: it says nothing about how evenly income is shared, and prices are much lower in some countries, so a dollar goes further there.

What moves it

Growth in what the economy produces, population growth, and the exchange rate: when a currency falls against the dollar, GDP per person in dollars falls too, even if nothing changed at home.