Line
Two Thousand Years of Living Standards
Real GDP per person, 2011 international dollars, from the year one
5 of 5 series are above their level a year earlier
Plays the chart through its history. Pauses are where the data set a record or moved most.
Early figures are scholarly reconstructions with wide margins of error, and most countries have only scattered benchmark years before records become yearly; the lines join them straight. From the Maddison Project Database; the original sources for each country are listed on each series’ page.
For most of history, living standards barely moved: Roman Italy, Song China and medieval England sat within a narrow band. Then the Netherlands and Britain broke away, and the industrial age made the rest of the chart look flat.
What this chart reads
- GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): Italyas “Italy”behindlatest 2022-12-31
- GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): Netherlandsas “Netherlands”behindlatest 2022-12-31
- GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): United Kingdomas “United Kingdom”behindlatest 2022-12-31
- GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): Chinaas “China”behindlatest 2022-12-31
- GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): Japanas “Japan”behindlatest 2022-12-31
Sources
GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): Italy. Source: Maddison Project Database 2023 (Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen). Cite as: Bolt, Jutta and Jan Luiten van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41. DOI: 10.1111/joes.12618. Licence: Maddison Project Database, version 2023 by Jutta Bolt and Jan Luiten van Zanden, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2023 The database asks that all original papers be cited when its data is shown in graphical form. The original sources for Italy, as the database lists them: Sources added since MPD 2013: - 1451-1861: Chilosi, D., & Ciccarelli, C. (2023). Italy in the Great Divergence: What Can We Learn from Engel’s Law (SSRN Scholarly Paper 4514091). - 1861-1871 (North Italy): Malanima, P. (2010), “The long decline of a leading economy: GDP in central and northern Italy, 1300–1913” European Review of Economic History 15 (2): 169–219. - 1871-1990: Baffigi, A. (2011).”Italian National Accounts, 1861-2011”, Banca d’Italia Economic History Working Papers 18. - GDP pc: 2008 - 2022: Total Economy Database the Conference Board for all countries included in TED. Otherwise UN national accounts statistics This is a one-off release; Palanor will load the next version when the Maddison Project publishes one.
GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): Netherlands. Source: Maddison Project Database 2023 (Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen). Cite as: Bolt, Jutta and Jan Luiten van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41. DOI: 10.1111/joes.12618. Licence: Maddison Project Database, version 2023 by Jutta Bolt and Jan Luiten van Zanden, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2023 The database asks that all original papers be cited when its data is shown in graphical form. The original sources for Netherlands, as the database lists them: Sources added since MPD 2013: - 1348–1807 (Holland): Van Zanden, J. L. and van Leeuwen, B. (2012), ‘Persistent but not consistent: the growth of national income in Holland 1347–1807’, Explorations in Economic History, 49 (2012), pp. 119–30. - 1807-1913: Smits, J.P., E. Horlings and J.L. van Zanden (2000). The Measurement of Gross National Product and its Components 1800-1913 (Groningen Growth and Development Centre Monograph series no 5). - GDP pc: 2008 - 2022: Total Economy Database the Conference Board for all countries included in TED. Otherwise UN national accounts statistics Sources used by Angus Maddison (original dataset, last updated 2010): - 1913-1950: C.A. van Bochove and T.A. Huitker, "Main National Accounting Series, 1900-1986", CBS Occasional Paper, No. 17, The Hague, 1987. This is a one-off release; Palanor will load the next version when the Maddison Project publishes one.
GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): United Kingdom. Source: Maddison Project Database 2023 (Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen). Cite as: Bolt, Jutta and Jan Luiten van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41. DOI: 10.1111/joes.12618. Licence: Maddison Project Database, version 2023 by Jutta Bolt and Jan Luiten van Zanden, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2023 The database asks that all original papers be cited when its data is shown in graphical form. The original sources for United Kingdom, as the database lists them: Sources added since MPD 2013: - Scheidel, W. and Friesen, S. J., ‘The size of the economy and the distribution of income in the Roman Empire’, Journal of Roman Studies, 99 (2009), pp. 61–91 - 1252–1700 (England): Broadberry, S.N., B. Campbell, A. Klein, M. Overton and B. van Leeuwen (2015), British Economic Growth 1270-1870 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - 1700–1870: Broadberry, S.N., B. Campbell, A. Klein, M. Overton and B. van Leeuwen (2015), British Economic Growth 1270-1870 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - GDP pc: 2008 - 2022: Total Economy Database the Conference Board for all countries included in TED. Otherwise UN national accounts statistics Sources used by Angus Maddison (original dataset, last updated 2010): - 1870-1950: C.H. Feinstein, National Income Expenditure and Output of the United Kingdom 1855-1965, Cambridge, 1972 This is a one-off release; Palanor will load the next version when the Maddison Project publishes one.
GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): China. Source: Maddison Project Database 2023 (Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen). Cite as: Bolt, Jutta and Jan Luiten van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41. DOI: 10.1111/joes.12618. Licence: Maddison Project Database, version 2023 by Jutta Bolt and Jan Luiten van Zanden, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2023 The database asks that all original papers be cited when its data is shown in graphical form. The original sources for China, as the database lists them: Sources added since MPD 2013: - 1000-1661: Broadberry, S.N., Guan, Hanhui and David Daokui Li (2018), “China, Europe and the Great Divergence: a Study in Historical National Accounting, 980-1850”, Journal of Economic History, 78, 4, 955-1000 - 1661–1933: Broadberry, S.N., Guan, Hanhui and David Daokui Li (2018), “China, Europe and the Great Divergence: a Study in Historical National Accounting, 980-1850”, Journal of Economic History, 78, 4, 955-1000 - 1661–1933: Xu, Y. Z. Shi, B. van Leeuwen, Y Ni, Z Zhang, and Y Ma, (2016) 'Chinese National Income, ca. 1661-1933', Australian Economic History Review 57(3), 368–393 - 1952–2008: Wu, Harry X. (2014), “China’s growth and productivity performance debate revisited – Accounting for China’s sources of growth with a new data set” The Conference Board Economics Program Working Paper Series EWP#14-01. - GDP pc: 2008 - 2022: Total Economy Database the Conference Board for all countries included in TED. Otherwise UN national accounts statistics This is a one-off release; Palanor will load the next version when the Maddison Project publishes one.
GDP per Person, Historical (Maddison): Japan. Source: Maddison Project Database 2023 (Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen). Cite as: Bolt, Jutta and Jan Luiten van Zanden (2024), "Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update", Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–41. DOI: 10.1111/joes.12618. Licence: Maddison Project Database, version 2023 by Jutta Bolt and Jan Luiten van Zanden, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2023 The database asks that all original papers be cited when its data is shown in graphical form. The original sources for Japan, as the database lists them: Sources added since MPD 2013: - 724-1874: Bassino, Jean-Pascal & Broadberry, Stephen & Fukao, Kyoji & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Takashima, Masanori, (2018). "Japan and the Great Divergence, 730-1874," CEI Working Paper Series 2018-13, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University - 1874-1940: Fukao, K., Bassino, J.-P., Makino, T., Paprzycki, R., Settsu, T., Takashima, M., and Tokui, J. (2015) Regional Inequality and Industrial Structure in Japan: 1874-2008, Tokyo: Maruzen Publishing. - GDP pc: 2008 - 2022: Total Economy Database the Conference Board for all countries included in TED. Otherwise UN national accounts statistics This is a one-off release; Palanor will load the next version when the Maddison Project publishes one.
Charts are drawn from Palanor's signal library and recomputed from source data on every view. Transformations (changes, indexing, year-on-year rates) are Palanor's.