Why Is Gdp Per Capita Useful as a Measure of Living Standards?

826 Words4 Pages
Why is GDP per capita useful as a measure of living standards? GDP itself doesn’t reflect the well-being of people in the nation; therefore GDP per capita is used to measure living standards. It measures the total output of a country and divides it by the number of people living in it. Higher GDP per capita is interpreted as having a higher standard of living. In 2004, China’s GDP was $1938 billion and Denmark’s was $220 billion, but Denmark’s GDP per capita was $40,750 while China’s was $1500. Therefore we are able to depict that Denmark’s living standards are significantly higher than those in China, since the average income for each person in Denmark is much higher. This then tells us that GDP alone is not the appropriate measure of living standards, as it measures the total output of the economy – whereas GDP per capita focuses solely on the income of the citizens as a whole. There are some limitations of using GDP per capita as a measurement for standard of living. For example it is a mean value and does not reflect income distribution, therefore meaning that it doesn’t take into account the fact that there are significantly higher earners than others, as wealth is not distributed equally within an economy. Therefore in this instance, median income is a more useful measure of wealth than per capita income, as it divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more. It is considered to be a better indicator than the average household income as it takes into account the uneven distribution of income within the economy, whereas GDP per capita is merely an average. Also, GDP per capita does not take into account the hidden economy and non-market goods and services; for example factory workers who have a second job driving an unlicensed taxi at night,

More about Why Is Gdp Per Capita Useful as a Measure of Living Standards?

Open Document