§ Mr. Knoxasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, from information available from international sources, what was the gross domestic product per head at factor cost in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) Australia and (c) New Zealand for the most recent year for which information is available.
§ Mr. BrittanThe latest available figures are as follows:114W
Gross Domestic Product at Market Prices per head of Total Population US dollars United Kingdom Calendar year 1980 9,335 Australia Year ending 30 June 1980 8,416 Year ending 30 June 1981 9,581 New Zealand Year ending 31 March 1980 6,840 Year ending 31 March 1981 7,441 Source: National Accounts of OECD Countries 1951–1980 Volume 1.
The conversion to United States dollars in the OECD publication is on the basis of official or market exchange rates, but these do not necessarily reflect the internal purchasing power of the currencies and can thus be very misleading. A more realistic assessment is given by the use of purchasing power parities to convert to a common unit, but these are not available for Australia or New Zealand.