HC Deb 20 January 1978 vol 942 cc409-12W
Mr. Gordon Wilson

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish from international sources available to him a table showing the top 20 countries in order of income per head of population over the last five years; and if he will express the relative positions both in terms of gross national product per head in United States dollar and in percentage terms, using the United States of America's gross national product per head as base.

Mr. Denzil Davies

Following are estimates per head of population in respect of the years 1973 to 1975 for (a) gross national product (GNP) at market prices based on figures calculated and published by the World Bank (figures on a comparable basis are not available for earlier years); (b) gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices as calculated and published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); and (c) relative GDP at market

(a) (b) (c)
1973 1974 1975 1973 1974 1975 1973 1974 1975
US․ per head
Switzerland … 7,060 7,870 8,050 6,390 7,350 8,460
Sweden … … 6,360 7,240 7,880 6,290 6,890 8,470
United States … 6,230 6,670 7,060 6,190 6,630 7,090
Denmark … … 5,870 6,430 6,920 5,440 5,990 7,010
Federal Republic of Germany … 5,690 6,260 6,610 5,600 6,220 6,870
Canada … … 5,580 6,190 6,650 5,580 6,640 6,990
Norway … … 5,190 5,860 6,540 4,880 5,840 7,060
Belgium … … 4,990 5,670 6,070 4,670 5,460 6,350
France … … 4,810 5,440 5,760 4,800 5,060 6,370
Netherlands … 4,670 5,250 5,590 4,480 5,140 5,950
Australia … … 4,650 5,330 5,640 5,000 5,950 6,240
Finland … … 4,120 4,700 5,100 3,740 4,770 5,640
New Zealand … 3,980 4,310 4,680 4,000 4,370 4,270
Austria … … 3,900 4,410 4,720 3,620 4,350 5,000
Japan … … 3,800 4,070 4,460 3,750 4,130 4,400
Libyan Arab Republic … … 3,590 4,440 5,080
United Kingdom … 3,270 3,590 3,840 3,140 3,400 4,070

scheme, with land farmed by the landowner in each of the last six years; and what was the average size of such tenant farms.

Mr. Hugh D. Brown

The information requested is set out in the table below:

prices converted to a common unit of measurement on the basis of extrapolated purchasing power parities. The top 20 countries have been defined through the figures published by the World Bank and include only those countries with a population of 1 million or more.

The estimates at (a) and (b) are converted to a common unit of measurement on the basis of rates of exchange which do not necessarily reflect the internal purchasing power of national currencies.

The set of estimates at heading (a) fluctuate less from year to year than those at heading (b), as a result of the World Bank's averaging process described in Note (1) below.

The estimates at heading (c) provide, for the few countries for which the information is available, what is thought to be a more realistic assessment of the relative level of GDP, being based on extrapolations of the comparisons made by the United Nations of the relative prices in 1970 of goods and services on which each country may spend its GDP.

(a) (b) (c)
1973 1974 1975 1973 1974 1975 1973 1974 1975
German Democratic Republic … … 3,210 3,710 4,230
Israel … … 3,080 3,460 3,580
Czechoslovakia USA = 100 … 2,980 3,330 3,710
Switzerland … 113 118 114 103 111 119
Sweden … … 102 109 112 102 104 119
United States … 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Denmark … … 94 96 98 88 90 99
Federal Republic of Germany … 91 94 94 90 94 97 74 76 77
Canada … … 90 93 94 90 100 99
Norway … … 83 88 93 79 88 100
Belgium … … 80 85 86 75 82 90
France … … 77 82 82 78 76 90 74 76 77
Netherlands … 75 79 79 72 78 84
Australia … … 75 80 80 81 90 88
Finland … … 66 70 72 60 72 80
New Zealand … 64 65 66 65 66 60
Austria … … 63 66 67 58 66 71
Japan … … 61 61 63 61 62 62 64 63 65
Libyan Arab Republic … … 58 67 72
United Kingdom … 52 54 54 51 51 57 61 60 62
German Democratic Republic … … 52 56 60
Israel … … 49 52 51
Czechoslovakia … 48 50 53

Sources:

Heading (a): World Bank Atlas 1976, pages 5 and 25–27—see Notes (1) and (2) below.

Heading (b): National Accounts of OECD countries 1975 Volume 1.

Heading (c): Based on heading (b)—also see Note (3) below.

Notes:

(1) The World Bank estimates at (a) are based on average relative prices and exchange rates during 1973–75; the year to year movements reflect changes in the volume of output and the rate of inflation in the United States.

(2) There are special difficulties in producing comparable estimates for centrally planned economies, where national accounts are compiled on the basis of the system of Material Product Balances. Estimates of GNP for these countries on a comparable basis have been made by the World Bank, but more than usual caution in the use of the figures is advised.

(3) The method of extrapolating the purchasing power parities is described in "International comparisons on the basis of purchasing power parities", Economic Trends, November 1975. The benchmark estimates are those for 1970 provided in the "International Comparisons Project" of the United Nations.