Data for 1959

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1959

Name: Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1959
Creator: Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC)
License: https://doi.org/10.34894/INZBF2

1959, 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), 1959 covers 149 countries. Qatar is highest, at 52,436; Botswana is lowest, at 559. The middle country reads 2,667. Against 1958, 149 values changed (126 up, 23 down), the same countries are covered.

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Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison) · Data for 1959

HighestQatar

52,436

LowestBotswana

559

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

149countries
1measure
1959the year it describes
145distinct 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), 1959, as published. GGDC ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

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Showing 25 of 149 countries · select a heading to sort

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1959: every country, as published by Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC).
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	52,436
2	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	47,131
3	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	34,153
4	United States`USA`Northern America	17,900
5	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	15,470
6	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	15,382
7	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	15,350
8	Canada`CAN`Northern America	13,829
9	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	13,767
10	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	13,753
11	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	13,211
12	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	13,134
13	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	12,333
14	Venezuela`VEN`South America	12,078
15	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	11,440
16	France`FRA`Western Europe	11,124
17	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	10,957
18	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	10,702
19	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	10,533
20	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	9,645
21	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	9,172
22	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	9,154
23	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	9,011
24	Argentina`ARG`South America	8,354
25	Uruguay`URY`South America	7,450
26	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	7,175
27	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	6,437
28	Chile`CHL`South America	6,409
29	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	6,304
30	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	5,818
31	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	5,665
32	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	5,553
33	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	5,512
34	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	5,327
35	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	5,161
36	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	5,079
37	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	5,053
38	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	4,957
39	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	4,935
40	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	4,881
41	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	4,846
42	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	4,774
43	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	4,640
44	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	4,549
45	Mexico`MEX`Central America	4,497
46	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	4,457
47	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	4,454
48	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	4,278
49	Peru`PER`South America	4,275
50	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	4,251
51	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	4,141
52	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	4,050
53	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	4,022
54	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	3,948
55	Colombia`COL`South America	3,942
56	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	3,885
57	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	3,857
58	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	3,814
59	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	3,655
60	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	3,645
=61	Ecuador`ECU`South America	3,524
=61	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	3,524
63	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	3,381
64	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	3,239
65	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	3,226
66	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	3,204
67	Brazil`BRA`South America	3,201
68	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	3,178
69	Panama`PAN`Central America	3,124
70	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	3,102
71	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	3,030
72	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	3,006
73	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	2,842
74	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	2,788
75	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	2,667
76	Bolivia`BOL`South America	2,511
77	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	2,393
78	Paraguay`PRY`South America	2,385
79	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	2,338
80	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	2,308
81	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	2,278
82	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	2,201
83	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	2,200
84	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	2,165
85	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	2,146
86	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	2,118
87	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	2,109
88	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	2,106
89	Honduras`HND`Central America	2,090
90	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	2,048
91	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	2,047
92	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	1,977
93	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	1,953
94	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	1,940
95	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	1,898
96	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	1,804
97	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	1,734
98	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	1,647
99	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	1,623
=100	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	1,581
=100	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	1,581
102	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	1,570
103	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	1,556
104	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	1,545
105	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	1,529
106	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	1,474
107	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	1,458
108	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	1,457
109	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	1,435
110	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	1,310
111	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	1,307
112	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	1,288
113	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	1,262
114	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	1,226
115	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	1,221
116	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	1,216
117	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	1,191
118	Niger`NER`Western Africa	1,162
119	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	1,157
120	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	1,148
121	India`IND`Southern Asia	1,143
122	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	1,129
123	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	1,117
124	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	1,116
125	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	1,087
126	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	1,063
127	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	1,036
128	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	1,015
129	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	1,009
130	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	995
131	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	983
132	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	971
133	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	953
=134	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	885
=134	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	885
136	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	858
137	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	845
138	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	838
139	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	773
=140	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	765
=140	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	765
142	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	736
143	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	724
144	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	706
145	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	681
146	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	655
147	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	639
148	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	626
149	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	559

02In 1959

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Qatar52,436
2Kuwait47,131
3United Arab Emirates34,153
4United States17,900
5Switzerland15,470

Lowest

149Botswana559
148Malawi626
147Comoros639
146Guinea655
145Ethiopia681

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 2,667. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031958 → 1959

Since 1958

+0 / −0countries joined / left
149values changed, of 149 in both
126 · 23rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Qatar50,042 → 52,436+2,394
United Arab Emirates32,473 → 34,153+1,680
United States16,946 → 17,900+954
Denmark12,903 → 13,767+864
Serbia3,022 → 3,885+863

Fell most

Argentina9,083 → 8,354−729
Chile6,958 → 6,409−549
Kuwait47,671 → 47,131−540
Uruguay7,788 → 7,450−338
São Tomé and Príncipe1,364 → 1,221−143

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 1959.
145 distinct values among 149
Values are stored exactly as published, to 13 decimals. 2 countries share 3,524. 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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.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-1959-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) (1959). Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1959 [data set], describing 1959. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/historical-gdp-per-capita/1959

06112 held

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‹ The year before
Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1958
149 countries
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149 countries
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Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison): every year
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