§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the top 20 countries in order of income per head of population over the past five years; if he will express the relative positions in percentage terms using the United States gross national product as basis; and if he will give the United Kingdom estimate on the bases of an economy (a) with oil and (b) without oil.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneEstimates of gross national product at market prices per head of population for the top 20 countries in respect of the years 1979 and 1980 are given in the 1981 "World Bank Atlas" available in the House of Commons Library. Comparable results for other years are not available.
Alternative estimates of gross domestic product per head covering the period 1962–1980, but relating only to the member countries of OECD, are given on page 88 of "National Accounts of OECD Countries 1951–1980 Volume 1 Main Aggregates", published by OECD and also available in the House of Commons Library.
It is well recognised that the use of official or market exchange rates to convert GNP or GDP estimates to a common unit of measurement can give very misleading results because the rates do not necessarily reflect the relative purchasing power of national currencies in terms of the goods and services available in the countries being compared. A more realistic assessment is given by the use of purchasing power parities to convert to a common unit. Figures on this basis for 15 OECD member countries are given on page 96 of the OECD publication referred to above.
It is not practicable to produce estimates for the United Kingdom on the basis of an economy without offshore oil.
199WTo do so would require a complex set of assumptions and calculations and would involve a disproportionate use of resources. Details of the contribution of the petroleum and natural gas industry to the gross domestic product in the years 1971 and 1980 are given in table 3.1 of "National Income and Expenditure", 1981 edition.