Data for 1997

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1997

1997, as GGDC’s 2023 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1997 covers 166 countries. Norway is highest, at 46,556.5; DR Congo is lowest, at 489.6. The middle country reads 6,041.8. Against 1996, 166 values changed (143 up, 23 down), the same countries are covered.

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Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison) · Data for 1997

HighestNorway

46,556.5

LowestDR Congo

489.6

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

166countries
1measure
1997the year it describes
166distinct 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), 1997, 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 166 countries · select a heading to sort

Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1997: every country, as published by Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC).
derived
1	NorwayNORNorthern Europe	46,556.5
2	LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe	42,311.3
3	United StatesUSANorthern America	41,722.7
4	United Arab EmiratesAREWestern Asia	38,168.5
5	SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe	38,165.5
6	DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe	35,499.1
7	SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia	34,868.1
8	Hong KongHKGEastern Asia	33,385.8
9	NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe	33,199.6
10	JapanJPNEastern Asia	33,038.3
11	AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand	32,858.0
12	CanadaCANNorthern America	32,709.7
13	KuwaitKWTWestern Asia	31,511.2
14	AustriaAUTWestern Europe	31,173.0
15	QatarQATWestern Asia	30,989.1
16	BelgiumBELWestern Europe	30,894.3
17	FranceFRAWestern Europe	30,341.8
18	GermanyDEUWestern Europe	30,186.9
19	ItalyITASouthern Europe	29,960.7
20	IcelandISLNorthern Europe	29,939.1
21	SwedenSWENorthern Europe	29,862.7
22	IrelandIRLNorthern Europe	29,455.9
23	United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe	29,259.8
24	FinlandFINNorthern Europe	28,239.9
25	New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand	24,802.1
26	IsraelISRWestern Asia	24,226.7
27	TaiwanTWNEastern Asia	23,437.8
28	SpainESPSouthern Europe	23,113.6
29	Puerto RicoPRICaribbean	23,069.0
30	Saudi ArabiaSAUWestern Asia	21,087.4
31	South KoreaKOREastern Asia	21,055.9
32	PortugalPRTSouthern Europe	20,810.2
33	CyprusCYPWestern Asia	19,264.8
34	SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe	19,258.9
35	GreeceGRCSouthern Europe	18,588.3
36	OmanOMNWestern Asia	18,518.5
37	MaltaMLTSouthern Europe	17,694.8
38	Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean	15,931.7
39	CzechiaCZEEastern Europe	15,494.3
40	ChileCHLSouth America	15,079.8
41	EstoniaESTNorthern Europe	15,074.8
42	VenezuelaVENSouth America	14,894.3
43	ArgentinaARGSouth America	14,722.6
44	MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia	13,344.6
45	SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe	13,335.5
46	UruguayURYSouth America	13,226.5
47	MauritiusMUSEastern Africa	13,198.3
48	BahrainBHRWestern Asia	12,528.4
49	SeychellesSYCEastern Africa	12,233.0
50	BarbadosBRBCaribbean	12,124.5
51	CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe	11,997.6
52	TürkiyeTURWestern Asia	11,432.4
53	GabonGABMiddle Africa	11,202.8
54	MexicoMEXCentral America	11,030.3
55	HungaryHUNEastern Europe	10,942.3
56	PolandPOLEastern Europe	10,811.3
57	ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia	9,995.6
58	LatviaLVANorthern Europe	9,773.5
59	LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe	9,592.6
60	BrazilBRASouth America	9,409.9
61	PanamaPANCentral America	9,054.7
62	ColombiaCOLSouth America	8,952.5
63	SyriaSYRWestern Asia	8,826.8
64	RussiaRUSEastern Europe	8,813.4
65	Costa RicaCRICentral America	8,683.9
66	Equatorial GuineaGNQMiddle Africa	8,445.6
67	LibyaLBYNorthern Africa	8,422.2
68	IranIRNSouthern Asia	8,113.7
69	KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia	8,093.8
70	BulgariaBGREastern Europe	7,927.4
71	BelarusBLREastern Europe	7,885.0
72	EcuadorECUSouth America	7,181.1
73	North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe	7,179.0
74	BotswanaBWASouthern Africa	7,152.1
75	South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa	6,950.5
76	JordanJORWestern Asia	6,942.5
77	TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa	6,680.1
78	LebanonLBNWestern Asia	6,581.1
79	JamaicaJAMCaribbean	6,523.6
80	RomaniaROUEastern Europe	6,446.4
81	Saint LuciaLCACaribbean	6,344.8
82	SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe	6,288.0
83	IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia	6,055.8
84	PeruPERSouth America	6,027.8
85	Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe	5,913.1
86	NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa	5,796.6
87	AlgeriaDZANorthern Africa	5,638.5
88	Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia	5,628.5
89	Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean	5,616.9
90	GuatemalaGTMCentral America	5,601.2
91	PalestinePSEWestern Asia	5,598.0
92	EgyptEGYNorthern Africa	5,594.6
93	ParaguayPRYSouth America	5,399.4
94	DominicaDMACaribbean	5,170.8
95	MontenegroMNESouthern Europe	5,121.7
96	El SalvadorSLVCentral America	4,882.7
97	ArmeniaARMWestern Asia	4,836.0
98	EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa	4,620.9
99	UkraineUKREastern Europe	4,612.4
100	UzbekistanUZBCentral Asia	4,529.3
101	GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia	4,480.9
102	MoroccoMARNorthern Africa	4,469.2
103	ChinaCHNEastern Asia	4,310.8
104	BoliviaBOLSouth America	4,079.5
105	PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia	3,928.0
106	YemenYEMWestern Asia	3,927.7
107	Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa	3,899.8
108	AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe	3,527.0
109	CubaCUBCaribbean	3,425.6
110	AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia	3,347.6
111	MoldovaMDAEastern Europe	3,322.5
112	HondurasHNDCentral America	3,303.3
113	KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia	3,114.7
114	PakistanPAKSouthern Asia	2,986.7
115	TurkmenistanTKMCentral Asia	2,856.1
116	Cabo VerdeCPVWestern Africa	2,777.5
117	IndiaINDSouthern Asia	2,514.0
118	NicaraguaNICCentral America	2,482.7
119	VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia	2,466.9
120	MongoliaMNGEastern Asia	2,445.0
121	IraqIRQWestern Asia	2,337.9
122	ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa	2,326.5
123	Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa	2,288.8
124	São Tomé and PríncipeSTPMiddle Africa	2,209.4
125	DjiboutiDJIEastern Africa	2,080.5
126	LaosLAOSouth-eastern Asia	2,002.2
127	NigeriaNGAWestern Africa	1,977.3
128	GhanaGHAWestern Africa	1,964.9
129	LesothoLSOSouthern Africa	1,940.3
130	BeninBENWestern Africa	1,867.6
131	SenegalSENWestern Africa	1,866.4
132	KenyaKENEastern Africa	1,846.4
133	MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa	1,799.8
134	CameroonCMRMiddle Africa	1,780.5
135	SudanSDNNorthern Africa	1,714.4
136	AngolaAGOMiddle Africa	1,687.3
137	North KoreaPRKEastern Asia	1,604.9
138	NepalNPLSouthern Asia	1,558.4
139	TajikistanTJKCentral Asia	1,552.6
140	MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia	1,506.0
141	CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia	1,466.4
142	HaitiHTICaribbean	1,456.2
143	Guinea-BissauGNBWestern Africa	1,388.1
144	MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa	1,323.7
145	ZambiaZMBEastern Africa	1,311.4
146	GambiaGMBWestern Africa	1,308.5
147	BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia	1,291.5
148	Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa	1,268.3
149	TogoTGOWestern Africa	1,226.3
150	ComorosCOMEastern Africa	1,177.6
151	MaliMLIWestern Africa	1,161.0
152	MadagascarMDGEastern Africa	1,152.2
153	UgandaUGAEastern Africa	1,107.5
154	TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa	1,017.2
155	MalawiMWIEastern Africa	1,005.9
156	GuineaGINWestern Africa	976.5
157	RwandaRWAEastern Africa	932.0
158	Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa	917.5
159	Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa	885.3
160	EthiopiaETHEastern Africa	815.1
161	BurundiBDIEastern Africa	800.3
162	ChadTCDMiddle Africa	719.2
163	LiberiaLBRWestern Africa	701.8
164	NigerNERWestern Africa	693.1
165	AfghanistanAFGSouthern Asia	570.6
166	DR CongoCODMiddle Africa	489.6

02In 1997

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Norway46,556.5
2Luxembourg42,311.3
3United States41,722.7
4United Arab Emirates38,168.5
5Switzerland38,165.5

Lowest

166DR Congo489.6
165Afghanistan570.6
164Niger693.1
163Liberia701.8
162Chad719.2

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 6,041.8. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031996 → 1997

Since 1996

What changed between 1996 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
166values changed, of 166 in both
143 · 23rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Qatar22,395.3 → 30,989.1+8,593.9
United Arab Emirates34,042.7 → 38,168.5+4,125.7
Equatorial Guinea4,426.3 → 8,445.6+4,019.3
Norway43,133.1 → 46,556.5+3,423.3
Ireland26,562.9 → 29,455.9+2,893.0

Fell most

Syria9,517.4 → 8,826.8−690.6
Thailand10,458.4 → 9,995.6−462.7
Albania3,965.7 → 3,527.0−438.7
Turkmenistan3,227.0 → 2,856.1−370.8
Sierra Leone1,060.6 → 885.3−175.3

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

One year of the 2023 release
Every year in this series comes from GGDC’s 2023 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1997.
The position is ours
GGDC publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.
Which end is better
A higher value is the better result.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 166 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
166 rows · 6.6 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download historical-gdp-per-capita-1997-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
GGDC’s own file, on its own site.
421302

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 4.0. Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.

Cite this edition

Maddison Project, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC) (1997). Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1997 [data set], describing 1997. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/historical-gdp-per-capita/1997

06112 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1996
166 countries
The year after ›
Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison), 1998
166 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

07Questions