Data for 1961

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1961

Name: Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1961
Creator: Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC)
License: https://doi.org/10.34894/INZBF2

1961, 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), 1961 covers 149 countries. Qatar is highest, at 48,516; Botswana is lowest, at 575. The middle country reads 2,868. Against 1960, 148 values changed (114 up, 34 down), the same countries are covered.

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Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison) · Data for 1961

HighestQatar

48,516

LowestBotswana

575

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

149countries
1measure
1961the 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), 1961, 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), 1961: every country, as published by Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC).
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	48,516
2	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	41,622
3	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	36,949
4	United States`USA`Northern America	18,175
5	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	17,308
6	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	16,349
7	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	15,533
8	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	14,843
9	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	14,564
10	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	14,118
11	Canada`CAN`Northern America	14,080
12	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	13,793
13	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	13,074
14	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	12,675
15	France`FRA`Western Europe	12,302
16	Venezuela`VEN`South America	12,231
17	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	12,106
18	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	11,561
19	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	10,882
20	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	10,728
21	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	10,613
22	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	10,158
23	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	10,155
24	Argentina`ARG`South America	9,344
25	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	7,964
26	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	7,760
27	Uruguay`URY`South America	7,740
28	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	7,186
29	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	7,055
30	Chile`CHL`South America	6,923
31	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	6,481
32	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	6,083
33	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	6,027
34	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	5,874
35	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	5,859
36	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	5,683
37	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	5,581
38	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	5,461
39	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	5,408
40	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	5,404
41	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	5,254
42	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	5,169
43	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	5,050
44	Peru`PER`South America	5,008
45	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	4,972
46	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	4,929
47	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	4,897
48	Mexico`MEX`Central America	4,807
49	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	4,787
50	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	4,720
51	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	4,594
52	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	4,415
53	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	4,340
54	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	4,307
55	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	4,280
56	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	4,114
57	Colombia`COL`South America	4,049
58	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	4,038
59	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	3,845
60	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	3,663
61	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	3,634
62	Ecuador`ECU`South America	3,633
63	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	3,623
64	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	3,622
65	Brazil`BRA`South America	3,585
66	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	3,532
67	Panama`PAN`Central America	3,462
68	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	3,277
69	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	3,110
70	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	3,068
71	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	3,022
72	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	2,995
73	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	2,925
74	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	2,922
75	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	2,868
76	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	2,821
77	Bolivia`BOL`South America	2,555
78	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	2,538
79	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	2,410
80	Paraguay`PRY`South America	2,396
81	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	2,361
82	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	2,351
83	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	2,332
84	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	2,289
85	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	2,287
86	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	2,228
87	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	2,225
88	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	2,212
89	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	2,138
90	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	2,131
91	Honduras`HND`Central America	2,130
92	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	2,114
93	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	2,050
94	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	2,020
95	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	1,964
96	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	1,795
97	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	1,753
98	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	1,747
99	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	1,702
100	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	1,690
101	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	1,643
102	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	1,606
103	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	1,597
104	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	1,588
105	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	1,545
106	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	1,524
107	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	1,495
108	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	1,482
109	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	1,471
110	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	1,454
111	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	1,400
112	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	1,321
113	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	1,318
114	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	1,313
115	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	1,309
116	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	1,294
117	Niger`NER`Western Africa	1,239
118	India`IND`Southern Asia	1,208
119	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	1,191
120	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	1,181
121	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	1,176
122	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	1,173
123	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	1,167
124	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	1,103
=125	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	1,093
=125	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	1,093
127	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	1,066
128	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	1,055
129	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	1,041
130	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	1,031
131	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	1,004
132	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	990
133	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	971
134	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	939
135	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	904
136	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	899
137	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	874
138	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	861
139	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	851
140	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	840
141	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	813
142	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	779
143	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	722
=144	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	703
=144	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	703
146	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	671
147	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	644
148	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	615
149	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	575

02In 1961

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Qatar48,516
2Kuwait41,622
3United Arab Emirates36,949
4United States18,175
5Switzerland17,308

Lowest

149Botswana575
148Burundi615
147Malawi644
146Comoros671
144Tanzaniashared703

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 2,868. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031960 → 1961

Since 1960

+0 / −0countries joined / left
148values changed, of 149 in both
114 · 34rose · fell
1unchanged

Rose most

United Arab Emirates35,758 → 36,949+1,191
Switzerland16,358 → 17,308+949
Mauritius4,396 → 5,254+858
Denmark14,046 → 14,843+797
Italy9,430 → 10,158+728

Fell most

Kuwait45,929 → 41,622−4,307
Qatar52,299 → 48,516−3,783
Algeria3,328 → 2,868−460
Seychelles3,257 → 2,995−262
Iceland10,959 → 10,728−231

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 1961.
147 distinct values among 149
Values are stored exactly as published, to 13 decimals. 2 countries share 1,093. 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-1961-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) (1961). Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1961 [data set], describing 1961. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/historical-gdp-per-capita/1961

06112 held

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149 countries
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