Data for 1985

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1985

Name: Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1985
Creator: Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC)
License: https://doi.org/10.34894/INZBF2

1985, 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), 1985 covers 165 countries. United States is highest, at 33,023; Chad is lowest, at 642. The middle country reads 6,268. Against 1984, 164 values changed (100 up, 64 down), 1 country joined.

Download CSV Cite this year

Share this page

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison) · Data for 1985

HighestUnited States

33,023

LowestChad

642

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

165countries
1measure
1985the year it describes
164distinct values12 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), 1985, 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 165 countries · select a heading to sort

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1985: every country, as published by Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC).
derived
1	United States`USA`Northern America	33,023
2	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	29,562
3	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	29,417
4	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	28,032
5	Canada`CAN`Northern America	28,025
6	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	27,710
7	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	27,608
8	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	25,990
9	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	25,805
10	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	24,927
11	France`FRA`Western Europe	24,755
12	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	24,437
13	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	24,361
14	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	24,133
15	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	23,873
16	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	23,514
17	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	23,148
18	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	22,579
19	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	22,469
20	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	21,780
21	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	20,883
22	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	20,663
23	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	18,605
24	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	16,671
25	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	16,611
26	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	16,558
27	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	16,541
28	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	14,850
29	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	14,834
30	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	14,697
31	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	14,422
32	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	14,273
33	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	14,067
34	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	13,868
35	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	13,345
36	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	13,287
37	Venezuela`VEN`South America	13,270
38	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	13,240
39	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	13,015
40	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	12,855
41	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	12,475
42	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	11,848
43	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	11,815
44	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	11,725
45	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	11,545
46	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	11,000
47	Argentina`ARG`South America	10,895
48	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	10,839
49	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	10,779
50	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	10,485
51	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	10,452
52	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	10,433
53	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	10,176
54	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	10,026
55	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	9,924
56	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	9,894
57	Mexico`MEX`Central America	9,785
58	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	9,398
59	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	9,387
60	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	9,022
61	Uruguay`URY`South America	8,901
62	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	8,859
63	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	8,558
64	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	8,265
65	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	8,131
66	Chile`CHL`South America	8,024
67	Brazil`BRA`South America	7,862
68	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	7,804
69	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	7,578
70	Panama`PAN`Central America	7,404
71	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	7,181
72	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	6,972
73	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	6,958
74	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	6,918
75	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	6,875
76	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	6,853
77	Colombia`COL`South America	6,809
78	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	6,629
79	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	6,626
80	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	6,585
81	Ecuador`ECU`South America	6,433
82	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	6,385
83	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	6,268
84	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	6,186
85	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	6,092
86	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	5,895
87	Peru`PER`South America	5,844
88	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	5,616
89	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	5,469
90	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	5,396
91	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	5,364
92	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	5,292
93	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	5,120
94	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	5,039
95	Paraguay`PRY`South America	4,994
96	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	4,862
97	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	4,814
98	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	4,619
99	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	4,484
100	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	3,939
101	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	3,846
102	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	3,784
103	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	3,717
104	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	3,653
105	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	3,606
106	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	3,484
107	Bolivia`BOL`South America	3,476
108	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	3,366
109	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	3,301
110	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	3,269
111	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	3,143
112	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	3,135
113	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	3,107
114	Honduras`HND`Central America	2,982
115	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	2,880
116	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	2,872
117	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	2,812
118	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	2,735
119	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	2,662
120	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	2,622
121	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	2,619
122	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	2,585
123	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	2,230
124	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	2,128
125	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	2,004
126	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	2,000
127	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	1,886
128	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	1,776
129	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	1,742
130	India`IND`Southern Asia	1,720
=131	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	1,621
=131	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	1,621
133	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	1,610
134	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	1,604
135	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	1,600
136	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	1,559
137	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	1,540
138	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	1,506
139	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	1,502
140	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	1,471
141	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	1,466
142	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	1,451
143	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	1,382
144	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	1,304
145	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	1,296
146	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	1,274
147	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	1,250
148	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	1,243
149	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	1,242
150	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	1,240
151	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	1,194
152	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	1,184
153	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	1,162
154	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	1,148
155	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	1,089
156	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	1,057
157	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	966
158	Niger`NER`Western Africa	950
159	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	925
160	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	909
161	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	886
162	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	880
163	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	843
164	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	821
165	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	642

02In 1985

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

Lowest

165Chad642
164Guinea821
163Tanzania843
162Ethiopia880
161Uganda886

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 6,268. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031984 → 1985

Since 1984

+1 / −0countries joined / left
164values changed, of 164 in both
100 · 64rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Norway26,321 → 27,608+1,287
Canada26,836 → 28,025+1,189
Denmark26,581 → 27,710+1,129
Switzerland28,315 → 29,417+1,102
Lebanon4,828 → 5,895+1,067

Fell most

Qatar20,354 → 16,558−3,796
United Arab Emirates32,135 → 29,562−2,573
Saudi Arabia16,343 → 14,422−1,921
Kuwait14,384 → 13,015−1,369
Moldova10,508 → 9,398−1,110

+ Slovakia

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 1985.
164 distinct values among 165
Values are stored exactly as published, to 12 decimals. 2 countries share 1,621. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 165 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
165 rows · 4.5 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download historical-gdp-per-capita-1985-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
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) (1985). Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1985 [data set], describing 1985. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/historical-gdp-per-capita/1985

06112 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1984
164 countries
The year after ›
Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1986
165 countries
All of them
Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison): every year
112 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

This edition

The same ranking, cut differently

Behind the number

Browse

By continent

Much-read profiles

Every subject

The numbers

Reading the data