Data for 1987

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1987

Name: Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1987
Creator: Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC)
License: https://doi.org/10.34894/INZBF2

1987, 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), 1987 covers 165 countries. United States is highest, at 34,730; Chad is lowest, at 663. The middle country reads 6,194. Against 1986, 164 values changed (97 up, 67 down), the same countries are covered.

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Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison) · Data for 1987

HighestUnited States

34,730

LowestChad

663

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

165countries
1measure
1987the year it describes
162distinct 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), 1987, 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), 1987: every country, as published by Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC).
derived
1	United States`USA`Northern America	34,730
2	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	31,774
3	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	30,533
4	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	29,576
5	Canada`CAN`Northern America	29,246
6	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	28,953
7	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	28,728
8	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	27,016
9	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	25,971
10	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	25,904
11	France`FRA`Western Europe	25,756
12	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	25,414
13	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	25,085
14	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	25,027
15	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	24,772
16	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	24,536
17	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	24,519
18	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	24,409
19	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	23,824
20	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	22,142
21	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	21,487
22	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	20,851
23	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	20,196
24	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	18,345
25	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	16,898
26	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	16,273
27	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	15,458
28	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	14,944
29	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	14,929
30	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	14,870
31	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	14,641
32	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	14,362
33	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	14,360
34	Venezuela`VEN`South America	13,866
35	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	13,831
36	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	13,707
37	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	13,705
38	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	13,514
39	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	12,919
40	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	12,819
41	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	12,792
42	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	12,683
43	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	12,597
44	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	12,473
45	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	12,416
46	Argentina`ARG`South America	11,633
47	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	11,389
48	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	11,297
49	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	10,973
50	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	10,943
51	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	10,865
52	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	10,861
53	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	10,699
54	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	10,385
55	Uruguay`URY`South America	10,305
56	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	10,173
57	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	9,852
58	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	9,840
59	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	9,789
60	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	9,648
61	Mexico`MEX`Central America	9,256
62	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	9,059
63	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	9,055
64	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	8,995
65	Chile`CHL`South America	8,721
66	Brazil`BRA`South America	8,402
67	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	7,911
68	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	7,838
69	Panama`PAN`Central America	7,653
70	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	7,592
71	Colombia`COL`South America	7,296
72	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	7,221
73	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	6,886
74	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	6,827
75	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	6,786
76	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	6,723
77	Peru`PER`South America	6,682
78	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	6,680
79	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	6,552
80	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	6,320
81	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	6,212
82	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	6,202
83	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	6,194
84	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	6,052
85	Ecuador`ECU`South America	5,893
86	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	5,713
87	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	5,595
88	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	5,453
89	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	5,254
90	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	5,241
91	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	5,098
92	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	5,088
93	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	5,043
94	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	5,040
95	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	5,004
96	Paraguay`PRY`South America	4,919
97	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	4,887
98	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	4,465
99	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	4,224
100	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	3,953
101	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	3,929
102	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	3,894
103	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	3,877
104	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	3,790
105	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	3,712
106	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	3,601
107	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	3,590
108	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	3,403
=109	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	3,370
=109	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	3,370
111	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	3,351
112	Bolivia`BOL`South America	3,330
113	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	3,218
114	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	3,084
115	Honduras`HND`Central America	2,970
116	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	2,931
117	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	2,922
118	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	2,670
=119	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	2,579
=119	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	2,579
121	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	2,471
122	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	2,364
123	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	2,299
124	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	2,168
125	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	2,048
126	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	2,004
127	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	1,817
128	India`IND`Southern Asia	1,793
129	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	1,782
130	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	1,698
131	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	1,682
132	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	1,624
133	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	1,621
134	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	1,605
135	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	1,586
136	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	1,562
137	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	1,556
138	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	1,551
139	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	1,500
140	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	1,490
141	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	1,406
142	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	1,382
143	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	1,350
144	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	1,336
145	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	1,288
146	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	1,258
=147	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	1,211
=147	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	1,211
149	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	1,208
150	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	1,203
151	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	1,183
152	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	1,165
153	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	1,149
154	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	1,138
155	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	1,095
156	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	1,079
157	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	980
158	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	960
159	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	918
160	Niger`NER`Western Africa	912
161	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	905
162	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	877
163	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	859
164	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	826
165	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	663

02In 1987

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1United States34,730
2Switzerland31,774
3Luxembourg30,533
4Iceland29,576
5Canada29,246

Lowest

165Chad663
164Guinea826
163Tanzania859
162Uganda877
161Malawi905

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 6,194. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031986 → 1987

Since 1986

+0 / −0countries joined / left
164values changed, of 165 in both
97 · 67rose · fell
1unchanged

Rose most

Hong Kong22,823 → 25,414+2,591
Iceland27,439 → 29,576+2,137
Taiwan11,918 → 13,705+1,787
Singapore16,831 → 18,345+1,514
South Korea9,756 → 10,865+1,109

Fell most

Gabon7,818 → 6,320−1,498
Kuwait13,509 → 12,416−1,093
Trinidad and Tobago15,871 → 14,929−942
Libya5,370 → 4,465−905
Armenia10,394 → 9,789−605

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 1987.
162 distinct values among 165
Values are stored exactly as published, to 12 decimals. 2 countries share 3,370. 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
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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-1987-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) (1987). Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1987 [data set], describing 1987. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/historical-gdp-per-capita/1987

06112 held

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Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1986
165 countries
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