This report updates the international comparisons report on GDP per capita and related measures produced annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Previous versions of the report were titled "International comparisons of GDP per capita and per employed person." Charts on current levels and recent trends of GDP and gross national income (GNI) per capita, GDP per hour worked, average annual hours worked, and employment are followed by tables with time series and growth rates of these and related indicators. The estimates shown in this report are based on data available as of August 2010. With this year's edition, the Czech Republic, and Finland have been added to the comparisons, and data for Ireland are now available for all indicators. In addition, tables on real GDP, population, employment, and average annual hours worked are now included in the report. Data are available for all countries through 2009.

Concepts and Definitions
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is defined as the value of all market and some nonmarket goods and services produced within a country's geographic borders. As such, it is the most comprehensive measure of a country's economic output that is estimated by statistical agencies. GDP per capita may therefore be viewed as a rough indicator of a nation's economic well being, while GDP per hour worked can provide a general picture of a country's productivity.

These indicators, however, are only approximations. The total production of a country consists of many things that are not included in its GDP, for example leisure, health, safety, and cultural resources. In addition, net income flows from abroad are not included in GDP; Gross National Income (GNI), however, is a measure of a country's production that includes both GDP and net income flows. Due to these types of data limitations, small differences in rankings should not be considered economically significant. Nevertheless, these measures are commonly used to compare the economic performance of different countries.

For international comparisons of levels of GDP, GDP per capita, or GDP per hour worked, the output has to be measured in a common currency unit. BLS converted the output measures from national currency units to U.S. dollars through the use of purchasing power parities (PPPs). PPPs are currency conversion rates that allow output in different currency units to be expressed in a common unit of value-in this case, U.S. dollars. The PPP for a given country is a ratio, where the numerator is the number of national currency units needed to purchase a specific basket of goods and services in that country and the denominator is the number of U.S. dollars needed to purchase a similar basket of goods in the United States, the base country.

This report now uses 2009 PPPs instead of 2005 PPPs. In addition, since the previous update, the organizations that publish the PPPs have revised their earlier data. As a result, GDP for some countries may have changed. For example, in the current update, the PPP for Singapore underwent a significant revision, which raised the value of Singapore's output expressed in U.S. dollars.

For further information on sources and methods see Technical notes. Additional historical data on GDP per capita, GDP per hour worked, and related measures are available on the Internet, at www.bls.gov/fls/#gdp.

Charts

Chart 1. GDP per capita and GNI per capita, 2009

Chart 2. Real GDP per capita growth

Chart 3. Real GDP per capita, by country, 1995–2009

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Chart 4. GDP per hour worked, 2009

Chart 5. Real GDP per hour worked growth

Chart 6. Real GDP per hour worked, by country, 1995–2009

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Chart 7. Average annual hours worked, 2009

Chart 8. Average annual hours worked growth

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Chart 9. Employment and average hours worked, 2009

Chart 10. Employment and average hours worked growth

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Tables

GDP per capita, by country, 1960–2009

Table 1a. Converted to U.S. dollars using 2009 PPPs (2009 U.S. dollars)

Country	1960	1979	1990	1995	2000	2005	2008	2009
United States	17,167	28,511	35,200	37,391	43,571	46,766	47,570	45,918
Canada	14,281	25,228	29,718	30,593	35,766	38,537	39,385	37,946
Australia	15,132	22,747	27,345	29,609	34,270	37,840	39,497	39,178
Japan	5,879	18,814	28,560	30,141	31,270	33,123	34,198	32,445
Republic of Korea	1,491	5,352	11,627	16,159	19,961	24,280	27,194	27,169
Singapore	4,140	14,854	26,943	35,107	40,746	48,606	51,421	49,252
Austria	11,215	23,261	28,834	30,851	35,458	37,374	40,314	38,701
Belgium	11,212	22,230	27,957	29,719	33,832	35,803	37,504	36,161
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	17,794	19,262	23,231	26,476	25,235
Denmark	13,449	23,808	29,003	31,996	36,086	37,841	38,913	36,813
Finland	NA	19,173	26,095	24,693	30,813	34,607	37,924	34,717
France	10,845	22,779	27,681	28,700	32,252	33,786	34,779	33,679
Germany	12,982	23,740	29,397	31,568	34,643	35,566	38,229	36,452
Ireland	NA	15,357	20,140	24,501	36,771	43,901	44,622	41,110
Italy	10,048	21,910	28,544	30,338	33,276	33,789	33,820	31,887
Netherlands	13,830	24,826	29,449	31,890	37,756	39,338	42,726	40,839
Norway	14,583	29,153	37,504	43,819	50,962	55,240	57,300	55,653
Spain	NA	18,283	23,763	25,258	30,215	32,918	34,044	32,565
Sweden	13,872	23,520	28,803	28,919	34,198	38,358	40,310	37,919
United Kingdom	14,031	21,390	26,908	28,793	33,595	37,152	38,669	36,528
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available. PPPs = purchasing power parities.

Table 1b. Average annual rates of change

Country	1979–2009	1979–90	1990–95	1995–2000	2000–09	2007–08	2008–09
United States	1.6	1.9	1.2	3.1	0.6	-0.9	-3.5
Canada	1.4	1.5	0.6	3.2	0.7	-0.7	-3.7
Australia	1.8	1.7	1.6	3.0	1.5	0.3	-0.8
Japan	1.8	3.9	1.1	0.7	0.4	-1.2	-5.1
Republic of Korea	5.6	7.3	6.8	4.3	3.5	2.0	-0.1
Singapore	4.1	5.6	5.4	3.0	2.1	-3.5	-4.2
Austria	1.7	2.0	1.4	2.8	1.0	1.6	-4.0
Belgium	1.6	2.1	1.2	2.6	0.7	0.4	-3.6
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	1.6	3.0	1.4	-4.7
Denmark	1.5	1.8	2.0	2.4	0.2	-1.4	-5.4
Finland	2.0	2.8	-1.1	4.5	1.3	0.5	-8.5
France	1.3	1.8	0.7	2.4	0.5	-0.3	-3.2
Germany	NA	2.0	NA	1.9	0.6	1.4	-4.6
Ireland	3.3	2.5	4.0	8.5	1.2	-4.6	-7.9
Italy	1.3	2.4	1.2	1.9	-0.5	-2.1	-5.7
Netherlands	1.7	1.6	1.6	3.4	0.9	1.5	-4.4
Norway	2.2	2.3	3.2	3.1	1.0	0.6	-2.9
Spain	1.9	2.4	1.2	3.6	0.8	-0.7	-4.3
Sweden	1.6	1.9	0.1	3.4	1.2	-1.2	-5.9
United Kingdom	1.8	2.1	1.4	3.1	0.9	-0.1	-5.5
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

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Real GDP per employed person, by country, 1960–2009

Table 2a. Converted to U.S. dollars using 2009 PPPs (2009 U.S. dollars)

Country	1960	1979	1990	1995	2000	2005	2008	2009
United States	45,438	63,599	72,804	78,786	88,961	96,626	98,671	99,763
Canada	40,949	56,756	62,435	66,977	73,938	76,554	76,349	75,676
Australia	37,411	53,424	58,736	64,367	72,613	76,800	78,401	79,188
Japan	11,669	37,431	54,884	56,576	60,792	66,214	68,017	65,507
Republic of Korea	NA	14,769	27,561	35,695	44,353	51,138	56,063	56,342
Singapore	NA	30,891	51,402	69,958	77,530	91,613	87,572	82,678
Austria	22,976	50,539	61,905	67,753	74,987	78,432	81,623	79,381
Belgium	29,361	57,924	72,472	77,906	84,403	88,109	89,894	87,515
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	35,706	40,052	47,629	52,216	50,658
Denmark	28,885	48,003	57,145	65,557	71,021	75,192	73,652	72,551
Finland	NA	39,927	52,458	61,445	69,545	75,988	79,795	75,529
France	25,315	56,398	70,431	75,144	80,491	84,693	86,185	84,978
Germany	27,581	54,014	61,149	68,558	72,737	75,522	77,940	74,120
Ireland	NA	43,845	60,155	68,800	82,502	93,069	94,260	95,348
Italy	24,106	58,569	71,606	78,958	82,635	81,173	80,107	77,363
Netherlands	37,583	70,714	69,252	71,586	76,383	79,138	81,776	78,542
Norway	34,145	62,397	77,264	90,112	98,671	108,598	104,489	103,156
Spain	NA	49,414	61,467	67,357	70,812	71,022	72,247	74,616
Sweden	28,407	46,085	53,601	61,824	70,549	79,643	81,228	78,646
United Kingdom	30,785	47,747	57,315	64,709	71,981	77,776	80,620	77,878
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available. PPPs = purchasing power parities.

Table 2b. Average annual rates of change

Country	1979–2009	1979–90	1990–95	1995–2000	2000–09	2007–08	2008–09
United States	1.5	1.2	1.6	2.5	1.3	0.4	1.1
Canada	1.0	0.9	1.4	2.0	0.3	-1.0	-0.9
Australia	1.3	0.9	1.8	2.4	1.0	0.1	1.0
Japan	1.9	3.5	0.6	1.4	0.8	-0.9	-3.7
Republic of Korea	4.6	5.8	5.3	4.4	2.7	1.7	0.5
Singapore	3.3	4.7	6.4	2.1	0.7	-6.4	-5.6
Austria	1.5	1.9	1.8	2.0	0.6	0.3	-2.7
Belgium	1.4	2.1	1.5	1.6	0.4	-0.8	-2.6
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	2.3	2.6	1.2	-3.0
Denmark	1.4	1.6	2.8	1.6	0.2	-2.1	-1.5
Finland	2.1	2.5	3.2	2.5	0.9	-0.6	-5.3
France	1.4	2.0	1.3	1.4	0.6	-0.4	-1.4
Germany	NA	1.1	NA	1.2	0.2	-0.1	-4.9
Ireland	2.6	2.9	2.7	3.7	1.6	-1.9	1.2
Italy	0.9	1.8	2.0	0.9	-0.7	-1.6	-3.4
Netherlands	0.4	-0.2	0.7	1.3	0.3	0.4	-4.0
Norway	1.7	2.0	3.1	1.8	0.5	-1.2	-1.3
Spain	1.4	2.0	1.8	1.0	0.6	1.3	3.3
Sweden	1.8	1.4	2.9	2.7	1.2	-1.4	-3.2
United Kingdom	1.6	1.7	2.5	2.2	0.9	-0.2	-3.4
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

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Real GDP per hour worked, by country, 1960–2009

Table 3a. Converted to U.S. dollars using 2009 PPPs (2009 U.S. dollars)

Country	1960	1979	1990	1995	2000	2005	2008	2009
United States	NA	34.78	40.24	42.68	47.91	54.16	55.90	57.54
Canada	NA	31.11	34.75	37.12	41.19	43.44	43.75	44.14
Australia	NA	28.73	32.77	35.66	40.36	43.79	44.81	46.27
Japan	NA	17.56	26.62	29.61	32.73	36.51	37.90	37.10
Republic of Korea	NA	NA	9.85	13.08	16.86	20.45	23.44	23.61
Singapore	NA	12.94	21.20	28.49	31.64	37.78	36.27	34.47
Austria	NA	NA	NA	39.88	43.58	46.17	48.56	47.45
Belgium	NA	33.68	43.77	49.31	54.63	56.30	57.33	56.84
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	17.70	19.48	24.24	26.62	26.79
Denmark	NA	29.35	37.14	42.56	44.91	47.63	46.93	46.32
Finland	NA	21.36	29.65	34.60	39.73	44.29	46.82	45.18
France	NA	30.20	41.32	45.53	50.58	54.40	55.25	54.50
Germany	NA	30.51	38.76	44.70	49.38	52.66	54.52	53.32
Ireland	NA	NA	30.26	36.69	47.99	56.27	58.88	61.30
Italy	NA	NA	38.36	42.48	44.40	44.63	44.27	43.62
Netherlands	NA	NA	NA	47.33	51.62	55.84	58.38	56.75
Norway	NA	39.49	51.42	60.57	67.81	76.47	73.45	73.26
Spain	NA	27.98	38.22	42.31	42.84	44.46	45.96	47.27
Sweden	NA	NA	34.02	37.69	42.96	49.62	49.99	48.83
United Kingdom	NA	26.23	32.74	37.46	42.40	46.46	48.42	47.39
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available. PPPs = purchasing power parities.

Table 3b. Average annual rates of change

Country	1979–2009	1979–90	1990–95	1995–2000	2000–09	2007–08	2008–09
United States	1.8	1.3	1.2	2.3	2.1	1.1	2.9
Canada	1.2	1.0	1.3	2.1	0.8	-0.5	0.9
Australia	1.7	1.2	1.7	2.5	1.5	-2.8	3.3
Japan	2.6	3.9	2.1	2.0	1.4	0.3	-2.1
Republic of Korea	NA	NA	5.8	5.2	3.8	4.1	0.7
Singapore	3.4	4.6	6.1	2.1	1.0	-6.4	-5.0
Austria	NA	NA	NA	1.8	1.0	0.3	-2.3
Belgium	1.8	2.4	2.4	2.1	0.4	-1.3	-0.8
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	1.9	3.6	0.5	0.7
Denmark	1.6	2.2	2.8	1.1	0.3	-2.0	-1.3
Finland	2.6	3.0	3.1	2.8	1.4	-0.5	-3.5
France	2.1	2.9	2.0	2.1	0.8	-0.6	-1.4
Germany	NA	2.2	NA	2.0	0.9	-0.0	-2.2
Ireland	NA	NA	3.9	5.5	2.8	-0.1	4.1
Italy	NA	NA	2.1	0.9	-0.2	-1.2	-1.5
Netherlands	NA	NA	NA	1.8	1.1	1.1	-2.8
Norway	2.2	2.4	3.3	2.3	0.9	-1.5	-0.3
Spain	1.8	2.9	2.1	0.2	1.1	0.8	2.8
Sweden	NA	NA	2.1	2.7	1.4	-2.0	-2.3
United Kingdom	2.1	2.0	2.7	2.5	1.2	0.1	-2.1
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

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Real GDP, by country, 1960–2009

Table 4a. Converted to U.S. dollars using 2009 PPPs (millions of 2009 U.S. dollars)

Country	1960	1979	1990	1995	2000	2005	2008	2009
United States	3,103,076	6,417,927	8,806,316	9,968,010	12,305,319	13,853,514	14,500,678	14,119,000
Canada	255,373	609,639	821,900	895,091	1,095,957	1,242,639	1,312,595	1,280,279
Australia	155,481	330,191	466,642	535,078	656,383	771,732	849,118	860,157
Japan	553,194	2,180,799	3,527,431	3,782,477	3,967,009	4,232,273	4,367,502	4,138,481
Republic of Korea	37,286	200,891	498,441	728,676	938,332	1,168,803	1,321,797	1,324,383
Singapore	6,816	35,405	82,097	123,734	164,120	207,343	248,845	245,651
Austria	79,036	175,606	221,382	245,214	284,079	307,411	336,074	323,881
Belgium	102,630	218,928	278,657	301,262	346,812	375,166	401,015	388,917
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	183,821	197,873	237,743	276,136	264,748
Denmark	61,377	121,845	149,086	167,349	192,645	205,042	213,716	203,265
Finland	NA	91,352	130,121	126,128	159,495	181,551	201,506	185,348
France	505,622	1,248,933	1,610,246	1,705,311	1,958,507	2,127,122	2,230,734	2,172,097
Germany	719,624	1,456,659	1,859,473	2,577,860	2,847,205	2,932,906	3,139,328	2,984,440
Ireland	NA	51,851	70,706	88,387	139,873	182,565	197,739	183,707
Italy	504,415	1,233,947	1,618,978	1,724,542	1,894,821	1,980,290	2,023,524	1,921,576
Netherlands	158,811	348,408	440,167	493,013	601,148	641,883	702,667	675,156
Norway	52,245	118,727	159,074	191,013	228,869	255,389	273,218	268,731
Spain	NA	681,771	923,198	994,863	1,216,569	1,428,598	1,552,161	1,495,683
Sweden	103,830	195,072	246,524	255,266	303,410	346,359	371,643	352,593
United Kingdom	734,839	1,202,986	1,540,105	1,670,713	1,978,247	2,237,935	2,373,615	2,256,830
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available. PPPs = purchasing power parities.

Table 4b. Average annual rates of change

Country	1979–2009	1979–90	1990–95	1995–2000	2000–09	2007–08	2008–09
United States	2.7	2.9	2.5	4.3	1.5	-0.0	-2.6
Canada	2.5	2.8	1.7	4.1	1.7	0.5	-2.5
Australia	3.2	3.2	2.8	4.2	3.0	2.3	1.3
Japan	2.2	4.5	1.4	1.0	0.5	-1.2	-5.2
Republic of Korea	6.5	8.6	7.9	5.2	3.9	2.3	0.2
Singapore	6.7	7.9	8.6	5.8	4.6	1.8	-1.3
Austria	2.1	2.1	2.1	3.0	1.5	2.0	-3.6
Belgium	1.9	2.2	1.6	2.9	1.3	1.0	-3.0
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	1.5	3.3	2.5	-4.1
Denmark	1.7	1.9	2.3	2.9	0.6	-0.9	-4.9
Finland	2.4	3.3	-0.6	4.8	1.7	0.9	-8.0
France	1.9	2.3	1.2	2.8	1.2	0.2	-2.6
Germany	NA	2.2	NA	2.0	0.5	1.3	-4.9
Ireland	4.3	2.9	4.6	9.6	3.1	-3.0	-7.1
Italy	1.5	2.5	1.3	1.9	0.2	-1.3	-5.0
Netherlands	2.2	2.1	2.3	4.0	1.3	1.9	-3.9
Norway	2.8	2.7	3.7	3.7	1.8	1.8	-1.6
Spain	2.7	2.8	1.5	4.1	2.3	0.9	-3.6
Sweden	2.0	2.2	0.7	3.5	1.7	-0.5	-5.1
United Kingdom	2.1	2.3	1.6	3.4	1.5	0.5	-4.9
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

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Population, by country, 1960–2009

Table 5a. Millions of persons

Country	1960	1979	1990	1995	2000	2005	2008	2009
United States	180.76	225.11	250.18	266.59	282.42	296.23	304.83	307.48
Canada	17.88	24.17	27.66	29.26	30.64	32.25	33.33	33.74
Australia	10.28	14.52	17.07	18.07	19.15	20.39	21.50	21.96
Japan	94.10	115.91	123.51	125.49	126.86	127.77	127.71	127.56
Republic of Korea	25.01	37.53	42.87	45.09	47.01	48.14	48.61	48.75
Singapore	1.65	2.38	3.05	3.52	4.03	4.27	4.84	4.99
Austria	7.05	7.55	7.68	7.95	8.01	8.23	8.34	8.37
Belgium	9.15	9.85	9.97	10.14	10.25	10.48	10.69	10.75
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	10.33	10.27	10.23	10.43	10.49
Denmark	4.56	5.12	5.14	5.23	5.34	5.42	5.49	5.52
Finland	4.43	4.76	4.99	5.11	5.18	5.25	5.31	5.34
France	46.62	54.83	58.17	59.42	60.72	62.96	64.14	64.49
Germany	55.43	61.36	63.25	81.66	82.19	82.46	82.12	81.87
Ireland	2.83	3.38	3.51	3.61	3.80	4.16	4.43	4.47
Italy	50.20	56.32	56.72	56.84	56.94	58.61	59.83	60.26
Netherlands	11.48	14.03	14.95	15.46	15.92	16.32	16.45	16.53
Norway	3.58	4.07	4.24	4.36	4.49	4.62	4.77	4.83
Spain	30.26	37.29	38.85	39.39	40.26	43.40	45.59	45.93
Sweden	7.49	8.29	8.56	8.83	8.87	9.03	9.22	9.30
United Kingdom	52.37	56.24	57.24	58.02	58.89	60.24	61.38	61.78
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

Table 5b. Average annual rates of change, by country, 1960–2009

Country	1979–2009	1979–90	1990–95	1995–2000	2000–09	2007–08	2008–09
United States	1.0	1.0	1.3	1.2	0.9	0.9	0.9
Canada	1.1	1.2	1.1	0.9	1.1	1.2	1.2
Australia	1.4	1.5	1.2	1.2	1.5	2.0	2.1
Japan	0.3	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.1	-0.0	-0.1
Republic of Korea	0.9	1.2	1.0	0.8	0.4	0.3	0.3
Singapore	2.5	2.3	3.0	2.7	2.4	5.5	3.1
Austria	0.3	0.2	0.7	0.2	0.5	0.4	0.4
Belgium	0.3	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.5	0.7	0.6
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	-0.1	0.2	1.0	0.6
Denmark	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.6	0.5
Finland	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.5
France	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.7	0.6	0.6
Germany	NA	0.3	NA	0.1	-0.0	-0.2	-0.3
Ireland	0.9	0.4	0.5	1.1	1.8	1.6	0.8
Italy	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.8	0.7
Netherlands	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.5
Norway	0.6	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.8	1.3	1.3
Spain	0.7	0.4	0.3	0.4	1.5	1.6	0.7
Sweden	0.4	0.3	0.6	0.1	0.5	0.8	0.9
United Kingdom	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.7	0.7
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

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Employment, by country, 1960–2009

Table 6a. Millions of persons

Country	1960	1979	1990	1995	2000	2005	2008	2009
United States	68.29	100.91	120.96	126.52	138.32	143.37	146.96	141.52
Canada	6.24	10.74	13.16	13.36	14.82	16.23	17.19	16.92
Australia	4.16	6.18	7.94	8.31	9.04	10.05	10.83	10.86
Japan	47.41	58.26	64.27	66.86	65.25	63.92	64.21	63.18
Republic of Korea	NA	13.60	18.09	20.41	21.16	22.86	23.58	23.51
Singapore	NA	1.15	1.60	1.77	2.12	2.26	2.84	2.97
Austria	3.44	3.47	3.58	3.62	3.79	3.92	4.12	4.08
Belgium	3.50	3.78	3.85	3.87	4.11	4.26	4.46	4.44
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	5.15	4.94	4.99	5.29	5.23
Denmark	2.12	2.54	2.61	2.55	2.71	2.73	2.90	2.80
Finland	NA	2.29	2.48	2.05	2.29	2.39	2.53	2.45
France	19.97	22.14	22.86	22.69	24.33	25.12	25.88	25.56
Germany	26.09	26.97	30.41	37.60	39.14	38.84	40.28	40.27
Ireland	1.07	1.18	1.18	1.28	1.70	1.96	2.10	1.93
Italy	20.92	21.07	22.61	21.84	22.93	24.40	25.26	24.84
Netherlands	4.23	4.93	6.36	6.89	7.87	8.11	8.59	8.60
Norway	1.53	1.90	2.06	2.12	2.32	2.35	2.61	2.61
Spain	NA	13.80	15.02	14.77	17.18	20.11	21.48	20.05
Sweden	3.66	4.23	4.60	4.13	4.30	4.35	4.58	4.48
United Kingdom	23.87	25.20	26.87	25.82	27.48	28.77	29.44	28.98
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

Table 6b. Average annual rates of change

Country	1979–2009	1979–90	1990–95	1995–2000	2000–09	2007–08	2008–09
United States	1.1	1.7	0.9	1.8	0.3	-0.4	-3.7
Canada	1.5	1.9	0.3	2.1	1.5	1.5	-1.6
Australia	1.9	2.3	0.9	1.7	2.1	2.3	0.3
Japan	0.3	0.9	0.8	-0.5	-0.4	-0.3	-1.6
Republic of Korea	1.8	2.6	2.5	0.7	1.2	0.6	-0.3
Singapore	3.2	3.1	2.1	3.7	3.8	8.7	4.6
Austria	0.5	0.3	0.2	0.9	0.8	1.8	-0.9
Belgium	0.5	0.2	0.1	1.2	0.9	1.9	-0.4
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	-0.8	0.6	1.2	-1.2
Denmark	0.3	0.2	-0.4	1.2	0.4	1.2	-3.4
Finland	0.2	0.7	-3.7	2.2	0.8	1.6	-2.8
France	0.5	0.3	-0.1	1.4	0.5	0.6	-1.2
Germany	NA	1.1	NA	0.8	0.3	1.4	-0.0
Ireland	1.6	-0.1	1.8	5.7	1.4	-1.1	-8.2
Italy	0.6	0.6	-0.7	1.0	0.9	0.3	-1.7
Netherlands	1.9	2.3	1.6	2.7	1.0	1.5	0.0
Norway	1.1	0.7	0.6	1.8	1.3	3.1	-0.4
Spain	1.3	0.8	-0.3	3.1	1.7	-0.5	-6.7
Sweden	0.2	0.8	-2.1	0.8	0.5	0.9	-2.0
United Kingdom	0.5	0.6	-0.8	1.3	0.6	0.7	-1.6
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

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Average annual hours worked per employed person, by country, 1960–2009

Table 7a. Hours

Country	1960	1979	1990	1995	2000	2005	2008	2009
United States	NA	1,829	1,809	1,846	1,857	1,784	1,765	1,734
Canada	NA	1,824	1,797	1,804	1,795	1,762	1,745	1,714
Australia	NA	1,859	1,792	1,805	1,799	1,754	1,750	1,712
Japan	NA	2,132	2,062	1,911	1,857	1,814	1,795	1,765
Republic of Korea	NA	NA	2,798	2,730	2,631	2,501	2,392	2,387
Singapore	NA	2,388	2,425	2,456	2,451	2,425	2,414	2,399
Austria	NA	NA	NA	1,699	1,721	1,699	1,681	1,673
Belgium	NA	1,720	1,656	1,580	1,545	1,565	1,568	1,540
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	2,017	2,056	1,965	1,962	1,891
Denmark	NA	1,636	1,539	1,540	1,581	1,579	1,570	1,566
Finland	NA	1,869	1,769	1,776	1,751	1,716	1,704	1,672
France	NA	1,868	1,705	1,651	1,591	1,557	1,560	1,559
Germany	NA	1,770	1,578	1,534	1,473	1,434	1,430	1,390
Ireland	NA	NA	1,988	1,875	1,719	1,654	1,601	1,555
Italy	NA	NA	1,867	1,859	1,861	1,819	1,809	1,773
Netherlands	NA	NA	NA	1,512	1,480	1,417	1,401	1,384
Norway	NA	1,580	1,503	1,488	1,455	1,420	1,423	1,408
Spain	NA	1,766	1,608	1,592	1,653	1,597	1,572	1,579
Sweden	NA	NA	1,575	1,640	1,642	1,605	1,625	1,611
United Kingdom	NA	1,820	1,751	1,728	1,698	1,674	1,665	1,643
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

Table 7b. Average annual rates of change

Country	1979–2009	1979–90	1990–95	1995–2000	2000–09	2007–08	2008–09
United States	-0.2	-0.1	0.4	0.1	-0.8	-0.6	-1.8
Canada	-0.2	-0.1	0.1	-0.1	-0.5	-0.5	-1.8
Australia	-0.3	-0.3	0.1	-0.1	-0.6	3.0	-2.2
Japan	-0.6	-0.3	-1.5	-0.6	-0.6	-1.2	-1.6
Republic of Korea	NA	NA	-0.5	-0.7	-1.1	-2.3	-0.2
Singapore	0.0	0.1	0.3	-0.0	-0.2	0.0	-0.6
Austria	NA	NA	NA	0.3	-0.3	-0.0	-0.5
Belgium	-0.4	-0.3	-0.9	-0.4	-0.0	0.5	-1.8
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	0.4	-0.9	0.7	-3.6
Denmark	-0.1	-0.6	0.0	0.5	-0.1	-0.1	-0.2
Finland	-0.4	-0.5	0.1	-0.3	-0.5	-0.1	-1.9
France	-0.6	-0.8	-0.6	-0.7	-0.2	0.3	-0.0
Germany	NA	-1.0	NA	-0.8	-0.6	-0.1	-2.8
Ireland	NA	NA	-1.2	-1.7	-1.1	-1.8	-2.8
Italy	NA	NA	-0.1	0.0	-0.5	-0.4	-2.0
Netherlands	NA	NA	NA	-0.4	-0.7	-0.8	-1.2
Norway	-0.4	-0.5	-0.2	-0.4	-0.4	0.2	-1.0
Spain	-0.4	-0.8	-0.2	0.8	-0.5	0.5	0.4
Sweden	NA	NA	0.8	0.0	-0.2	0.6	-0.9
United Kingdom	-0.3	-0.4	-0.3	-0.3	-0.4	-0.3	-1.3
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

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Table 8. Employment as percentage of population, by country, 1960–2009

Country	1960	1979	1990	1995	2000	2005	2008	2009
United States	37.78	44.83	48.35	47.46	48.98	48.40	48.21	46.03
Canada	34.88	44.45	47.60	45.68	48.37	50.34	51.59	50.14
Australia	40.45	42.58	46.56	46.00	47.20	49.27	50.38	49.47
Japan	50.38	50.26	52.04	53.28	51.44	50.02	50.28	49.53
Republic of Korea	NA	36.24	42.19	45.27	45.00	47.48	48.51	48.22
Singapore	NA	48.09	52.42	50.18	52.55	53.06	58.72	59.57
Austria	48.81	46.03	46.58	45.53	47.29	47.65	49.39	48.75
Belgium	38.19	38.38	38.58	38.15	40.08	40.64	41.72	41.32
Czech Republic	NA	NA	NA	49.83	48.09	48.77	50.70	49.81
Denmark	46.56	49.60	50.75	48.81	50.81	50.33	52.83	50.74
Finland	NA	48.02	49.75	40.19	44.31	45.54	47.53	45.96
France	42.84	40.39	39.30	38.19	40.07	39.89	40.35	39.63
Germany	47.07	43.95	48.07	46.05	47.63	47.09	49.05	49.18
Ireland	37.81	35.03	33.48	35.61	44.57	47.17	47.34	43.12
Italy	41.68	37.41	39.86	38.42	40.27	41.63	42.22	41.22
Netherlands	36.80	35.11	42.52	44.55	49.43	49.71	52.25	52.00
Norway	42.71	46.72	48.54	48.63	51.65	50.87	54.84	53.95
Spain	NA	37.00	38.66	37.50	42.67	46.35	47.12	43.64
Sweden	48.83	51.04	53.74	46.78	48.47	48.16	49.63	48.22
United Kingdom	45.58	44.80	46.95	44.50	46.67	47.77	47.96	46.90
Note: Data for Germany for years before 1991 pertain to the former West Germany. NA = Not available.

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Table 9. Purchasing power parities (PPPs), exchange rates, and relative prices, by country, 2009

Country	PPPs for GDP (U.S.=1.00)	Exchange rates	Relative Prices 1
United States	1.00	1.00	1.00
Canada	1.19	1.14	1.05
Australia	1.46	1.26	1.16
Japan	114.58	93.68	1.22
Republic of Korea	802.68	1274.63	0.63
Singapore	1.08	1.45	0.74
Austria	0.85	0.72	1.19
Belgium	0.87	0.72	1.21
Czech Republic	13.70	19.37	0.71
Denmark	8.17	5.36	1.52
Finland	0.92	0.72	1.29
France	0.88	0.72	1.22
Germany	0.81	0.72	1.12
Ireland	0.89	0.72	1.24
Italy	0.79	0.72	1.10
Netherlands	0.85	0.72	1.18
Norway	8.93	6.29	1.42
Spain	0.70	0.72	0.98
Sweden	8.81	7.65	1.15
United Kingdom	0.62	0.64	0.97
Note: ¹ Relative prices are the ratio of PPPs to exchange rates. They are a measure of how expensive goods and services are in a country relative to the United States. A number greater than 1 indicates relatively higher prices while a number less than 1 indicates relatively lower prices. See technical notes.

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Technical Notes

This report updates the international comparisons report on GDP per capita and related measures produced annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Previous versions of the report were titled "International comparisons of GDP per capita and per employed person." The estimates shown in this report are based on data available as of August 2010. With this year's edition, the Czech Republic, and Finland have been added to the comparisons, and data for Ireland are now available for all indicators. In addition, tables on real GDP, population, employment, and average annual hours worked are now included in the report. Data are available for all countries through 2009.

These technical notes provide definitions, sources, and methods for the basic time series and indicators included in this report.

Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of goods and services produced by labor and capital in a country, regardless of nationality (see table 4). As such, it is the most comprehensive measure of a country's economic output that is generally estimated by statistical agencies.

The GDP measures in this report were obtained from the national accounts programs of their respective national statistical agencies. For all countries in this comparison, data for more recent years have been produced using chain linked real output measures as recommended in the 1993 United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA93). For several countries, however, older data were produced on a 1968 United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA68). Data produced on an SNA68 basis used fixed base-year deflators that were typically updated only every 5 years. In order to construct one continuous GDP series, BLS links several time series, each of which has its own set of base-year price weights.

The U.S. GDP series are produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and are based on the system of national income and product accounts (NIPAs), which are also prepared in accordance with SNA93.

Gross national income
Gross National Income (GNI) is equivalent to GDP except that it includes net income flows from abroad, which are the sum of all income received by one country from investments in other countries, minus income from investments that flow to other countries. The GNI measures in this report have been prepared in accordance with SNA93.

Most GNI measures in this report were obtained from the national accounts programs of their respective national statistical agencies. However, for some countries the data were obtained from Eurostat and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The U.S. GNI series is based on the system of national income and product accounts (NIPAs) estimated by BEA.

GDP per capita
GDP per capita is calculated as GDP divided by population and is a rough measure of a population's economic well being. (See table 1.) However, this measure may have the following limitations: The total production of a country consists of many things that are not included in its GDP, and some items included may not contribute to a country's well-being. In addition, some countries experience significant in- and out-flows of income because of foreign investment, which may affect a country's prosperity.

GDP per hour worked and GDP per employed person
GDP per hour worked is one measure of labor productivity. (See table 3.) Although it relates output to labor hours involved in its production by all persons in a country, it does not measure the specific contribution of labor or any other factor of production. Rather, it reflects the joint effects of many influences, including changes in technology; capital investment; utilization of capacity, energy, and materials; the use of purchased services inputs, including contract employment services; the organization of production; and managerial skill; in addition to the characteristics and effort of the workforce.

In addition to GDP per hour worked, this report also provides GDP per employed person. (See table 2.) GDP per employed person is a less precise measure of labor productivity in that it does not take into account the often substantial differences in working hours among countries; however, data on GDP per employed person are available for longer time periods and are thus useful as a rough indicator of labor productivity for years in which GDP per hour data are not available.

Comparative levels of time series with real output using purchasing power parities (PPPs)
In order to make international comparisons of levels of GDP, GDP per capita, GDP per hour worked, and GDP per employed persons, it is necessary to express output in a common currency unit. In this report, BLS converted the output measures from national currency units to U.S. dollars through the use of purchasing power parities (PPPs). PPPs are currency conversion rates that allow output in different currency units to be expressed in a common unit of value - in this case, U.S. dollars.

There are two primary reasons for using PPPs rather than market exchange rates to convert GDP into a common currency. First, PPPs reflect the relative purchasing powers of different currencies. By contrast, market exchange rates represent at best relative prices of goods and services that are traded internationally, not the relative value of total domestic output, which also consists of goods, and particularly services, that are not traded internationally. Second, PPPs are more stable than market exchange rates, which can vary frequently and abruptly. Often these changes in market exchange rates are due to currency speculation or interest rates changes. Thus if GDP is converted into a common currency using exchange rates, the output of a country's economy could appear to vary for reasons that are unrelated to the country's economic activity.

The levels of GDP in this report were derived as follows. First, real GDP series from each country was expressed in constant prices of the national currency in 2009. Next, each country's constant GDP series was divided by the country's PPP for 2009 as calculated by the OECD-Eurostat PPP Program¹ or the International Monetary Fund (IMF), thereby converting the series into constant 2009 U.S. dollars. Finally, the time series of GDP per capita, per employed person, and per hour were estimated by dividing each country's GDP in 2009 dollars by its population, employment, and hours, respectively.

PPPs are an effective tool for international comparisons of output levels, but they should be used and interpreted with caution, as the accuracy of PPPs may be limited by several factors; for example, goods and services included in the calculation of PPPs may not be representative of the entire economy or comparable across countries, countries may use different price aggregation methods, and the statistical capabilities among countries may differ. Although comparative estimates like GDP per capita are useful for grouping countries, changes in country rankings can occur as a result of relatively minor adjustments to PPP estimates. Thus, small differences between countries are not, in general, economically significant, and a strict ranking order interpretation should be avoided.

Currency exchange rates and relative prices
The currency exchange rate is the rate at which one currency may be converted into the currency of another country for commercial purposes, such as international trade. The market exchange rates in this report are based on reports by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. (See table 9.)

The relationship between PPPs and market exchange rates can be used to estimate comparative prices in different countries. This report calculates relative prices in 2009 by dividing a country's PPP by its market exchange rate. (See table 9.) The resulting values indicate the domestic price, expressed in U.S. dollars, of a basket of goods that would cost exactly one dollar in the United States. Consequently, values less than 1.00 indicate that prices in that country are relatively low compared with the United States. Values greater than 1.00 indicate that prices in a particular country are relatively high compared with the United States.

Population and employment
The population data in this report represent the total average resident population, which refers to the civilian population and the armed forces residing within a country. (See table 5.) The data are derived from national statistical agencies and international organizations.

The employment data in this report represent the number of persons employed, which consists of the sum of civilian employment and armed forces. (See table 6.) Most of the data are obtained from the countries' national accounts, where the data series have been developed from various surveys and other sources, including labor force (household) and establishment surveys. In some cases, the data have been supplemented with data obtained from other series published by national statistical or international organizations.

The employment-population ratio measures the participation of the population in the production process. (See table 8.) In this report, the population and employment figures include the Armed Forces. This inclusion is a conceptual difference to the population and employment figures published in the BLS report International comparisons of annual labor force statistics, 10 countries,² which exclude the Armed Forces.

Hours worked
The hours worked data in this report represent hours actually worked, including regular work time, overtime, preparing the work place, waiting for supplies, and short rests. Hours worked exclude vacation, sick leave, lunch breaks, and commuting to and from work.

Hours worked may not be fully comparable across countries because national statistical offices may use different concepts, data sources, and estimation techniques to calculate total hours worked; for example, the employment series may refer to the number of persons or the number of jobs, hours worked may be estimated from hours paid, and different establishment and household surveys may be used to cover all employees, self-employed, and Armed Forces. These differences may affect the comparability of hours worked data among different countries.³

For most countries, the hours data used in this report are obtained from the countries' national accounts, where the data series have been developed from various surveys and other sources. For some countries, the data are based on other series published by national statistical or international organizations.

Data limitations
BLS prepares the data in this report with the utmost attention to comparability across countries. However, there are several issues that limit the comparability, including the following:

•  Different national methodologies: The measures in this report were calculated from data that were obtained from national statistical agencies and international organizations. While these data are generally comparable, some differences remain in the statistical methodologies used by these organizations.

•  Missing data for recent years: In some cases, when data for the most recent year(s) are not available, BLS may estimate the missing data using alternative data series.

•  Different historical methodologies: National statistical agencies change their methodology periodically. As a result, continuous time series from 1960 forward are generally not available. In order to construct longer time series, BLS often links several shorter series that may have used different methodologies.

1. OECD and Eurostat, Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures. 2005 Benchmark Year, 2007 Edition.
2. This report is available on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/fls/home.htm.
3. Some of these differences are addressed by Susan Fleck in "International comparisons of hours worked: an assessment of the statistics," Monthly Labor Review, May 2009, pp. 3-31.

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Last Modified Date: October 22, 2010