Data for 1955

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1955

Name: Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1955
Creator: Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC)
License: https://doi.org/10.34894/INZBF2

1955, as GGDC’s 2023 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Historical GDP per capita follows each country's output per person back to 1820, in 2011 international dollars, from the Maddison Project Database. It joins economic historians' reconstructions of old national accounts onto modern statistics, so that incomes two centuries apart can be set on one scale.

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1955 covers 149 countries. Kuwait is highest, at 51,417.0; Botswana is lowest, at 529.0. The middle country reads 2,364.0. Against 1954, 148 values changed (119 up, 29 down), the same countries are covered.

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Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison) · Data for 1955

HighestKuwait

51,417.0

LowestBotswana

529.0

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

149countries
1measure
1955the year it describes
147distinct values13 decimals, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1955, as published. GGDC ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 149 countries · select a heading to sort

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1955: every country, as published by Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC).
derived
1	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	51,417.0
2	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	49,632.0
3	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	31,374.0
4	United States`USA`Northern America	17,370.0
5	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	13,999.5
6	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	13,908.0
7	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	13,818.0
8	Canada`CAN`Northern America	13,072.0
9	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	12,795.0
10	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	12,541.0
11	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	12,060.0
12	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	11,788.0
13	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	11,678.0
14	Venezuela`VEN`South America	10,501.0
15	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	10,096.0
16	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	10,044.0
17	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	10,010.0
18	France`FRA`Western Europe	9,881.0
19	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	9,240.0
20	Argentina`ARG`South America	8,348.0
21	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	8,284.0
22	Uruguay`URY`South America	8,176.0
23	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	8,054.0
24	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	7,453.0
25	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	7,010.0
26	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	6,880.0
27	Chile`CHL`South America	6,341.0
28	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	6,248.0
29	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	5,899.0
30	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	5,002.0
31	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	4,894.0
32	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	4,844.0
33	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	4,658.0
34	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	4,511.0
35	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	4,454.0
36	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	4,436.7
37	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	4,417.0
38	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	4,312.6
39	Peru`PER`South America	4,309.0
40	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	4,288.0
41	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	4,280.0
42	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	4,221.0
43	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	4,133.0
44	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	4,095.0
45	Mexico`MEX`Central America	4,060.0
46	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	4,014.0
47	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	4,007.0
48	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	3,945.0
49	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	3,921.0
50	Colombia`COL`South America	3,783.0
51	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	3,765.0
52	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	3,749.0
53	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	3,663.0
54	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	3,454.0
55	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	3,437.0
56	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	3,424.0
57	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	3,360.0
58	Ecuador`ECU`South America	3,349.0
59	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	3,288.0
60	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	3,220.0
61	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	3,170.0
62	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	2,979.0
63	Bolivia`BOL`South America	2,954.0
64	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	2,946.0
=65	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	2,766.0
=65	Panama`PAN`Central America	2,766.0
67	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	2,754.0
68	Brazil`BRA`South America	2,675.0
69	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	2,638.0
=70	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	2,590.0
=70	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	2,590.0
72	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	2,584.0
73	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	2,515.1
74	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	2,397.0
75	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	2,364.0
76	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	2,327.0
77	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	2,303.0
78	Paraguay`PRY`South America	2,299.0
79	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	2,265.0
80	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	2,179.0
81	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	2,165.0
82	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	2,131.0
83	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	2,099.0
84	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	2,007.0
85	Honduras`HND`Central America	1,986.0
86	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	1,930.0
87	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	1,913.0
88	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	1,895.0
89	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	1,886.0
90	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	1,882.0
91	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	1,867.0
92	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	1,855.0
93	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	1,854.0
94	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	1,830.0
95	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	1,796.0
96	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	1,776.0
97	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	1,677.0
98	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	1,537.0
99	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	1,506.0
100	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	1,502.0
101	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	1,474.0
102	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	1,462.0
103	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	1,446.0
104	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	1,411.3
105	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	1,411.0
106	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	1,400.0
107	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	1,379.0
108	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	1,288.0
109	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	1,246.0
110	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	1,221.0
111	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	1,202.0
112	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	1,195.0
113	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	1,191.0
114	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	1,173.0
115	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	1,170.0
116	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	1,144.0
117	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	1,138.0
118	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	1,130.0
119	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	1,119.0
120	Niger`NER`Western Africa	1,082.0
121	India`IND`Southern Asia	1,078.0
122	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	1,074.0
123	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	1,071.0
124	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	1,044.0
125	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	1,034.0
126	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	1,012.0
127	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	940.0
128	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	915.0
129	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	907.0
130	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	894.0
131	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	859.0
132	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	826.0
133	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	810.0
134	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	807.0
135	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	791.0
136	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	786.0
137	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	776.0
138	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	744.0
139	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	738.0
140	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	733.0
141	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	719.0
142	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	674.0
143	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	673.0
144	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	663.0
145	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	622.0
146	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	598.0
147	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	596.0
148	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	564.0
149	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	529.0

02In 1955

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Kuwait51,417.0
2Qatar49,632.0
3United Arab Emirates31,374.0
4United States17,370.0
5Switzerland13,999.5

Lowest

149Botswana529.0
148Malawi564.0
147Comoros596.0
146Guinea598.0
145Guinea-Bissau622.0

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 2,364.0. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031954 → 1955

Since 1954

+0 / −0countries joined / left
148values changed, of 149 in both
119 · 29rose · fell
1unchanged

Rose most

Germany8,364.0 → 9,240.0+876.0
United States16,512.0 → 17,370.0+858.0
Switzerland13,171.4 → 13,999.5+828.1
Canada12,272.0 → 13,072.0+800.0
Austria7,261.0 → 8,054.0+793.0

Fell most

Qatar51,490.0 → 49,632.0−1,858.0
Kuwait52,920.0 → 51,417.0−1,503.0
Syria5,504.0 → 4,844.0−660.0
United Arab Emirates31,695.0 → 31,374.0−321.0
Iraq3,926.0 → 3,663.0−263.0

04Caveats

Read before you use

Using the series

One year of the 2023 release
Every year in this series comes from GGDC’s 2023 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 1955.
147 distinct values among 149
Values are stored exactly as published, to 13 decimals. 2 countries share 2,766.0. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 149 countries has every column.

05The files

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Licence in full

.csv
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149 rows · 4.2 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download historical-gdp-per-capita-1955-nations-inquiry.csv
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The publisher’s original
GGDC’s own file, on its own site.
421302

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC) (1955). Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1955 [data set], describing 1955. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/historical-gdp-per-capita/1955

06112 held

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Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1954
149 countries
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