7 ms·

GDP per capita as a stand alone metric doesn't mean much.

• gizmo 2y ago
  All rich countries have high GDP per capita and all poor countries have low GDP per capita. Zero exceptions. Despite the shortcomings of GDP as a metric it still tracks prosperity very accurately.
  • Rinzler89 2y ago
    You can't get any more obvious than that, but that wasn't my point to say that higher GDP doesn't make you richer than a low GDP, but to say GDP/capita as a number alone is not a measure of wealth, income or prosperity between countries, even in the EU. For example Ireland has by a long margin the highest GDP/capita in the whole EU, and it would make you think the average Irish worker earns more that any other worker in the EU and drives a Lambo, but that's not what's happening. It's because most US corporations funnel their EU money through their Irish holding companies skewing the statistic.
    • gizmo 2y ago
      > For example Ireland has by a long margin the highest GDP/capita in the whole EU No, Luxembourg does.
      • bigfudge 2y ago
        But in both cases it's because of weird corporate tax loopholes rather than the underlying productivity or utility to the median individual.