BRICS Nations Still Trail G7 in Per-Capita GDP

While the five BRICS nations have caught up with the G7 in terms of collective PPP-adjusted GDP, they still trail the G7’s mature economies by a significant margin in terms of GDP per capita – an often-used measure of economic development and prosperity.

According to the IMF, none of the five BRICS members even comes close to matching Japan’s GDP per capita, which in turn is the lowest among the G7 countries. Using PPP-adjusted international dollars, the United States’ per-capita GDP amounts to $80,035, more than three times that of China, which amounts to $23,382.

India, the world’s most populous country and third largest economy in terms of PPP-adjusted GDP, has by far the lowest GDP per capita among the twelve G7 and BRICS nations. The pace of progress has been rapid, nonetheless. Since the turn of the century, India’s GDP per capita increased nearly fivefold, trailing only China in that respect.