§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing, for the most recent available date, the gross domestic product per head of population in equivalent £ sterling values for each country in the EEC and in NATO together with Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria and Switzerland.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneFollowing is the information:
Gross Domestic Product, per capita, 1980 £ sterling Based on market exchange rates Based on purchasing power parities United Kingdom 4,017 4,017 Canada 4,550 na United States 4,887 5,989 Austria 4,408 4,412 Belgium 5,081 4,598 Denmark 5,569 4,789 Finland 4,489 na France 5,218 4,764 West Germany 5,721 4,969 Greece 1,810 2,468 Iceland 5,362 na Irish Republic 2,233 2,670 Italy 2,970 3,795 Luxembourg 5,405 5,176 Netherlands 5,096 4,540 Norway 6,028 na Portugal 1,044 1,941 Sweden 6,347 na Switzerland 6,846 na Turkey 504 na Source: Derived from National Accounts of OECD Countries 1951–1980, Volume 1 Main Aggregates.
It is well recognised that the use of official or market exchange rates to convert GDP estimates to a common unit 282W 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, expressed in terms of £ sterling, are given in the second column of the table above for those countries for which estimates are available.