What per capita income is considered low and what is considered high ?
The actual per capita income is not an accurate figure to compare the ‘richness’ of a person or a country. What matters more is what you can actually buy with that money. If the prices of food and other primary goods are double, the same amount of income will still be less valuable in that country. That’s why Composite indicators were introduced. These take into account multiple factors. For instance: The HDI (Human Development Index) is now the most widely used composite indicator. A number is calculated between 0 and 1 taking into account the most important measures: GNP per capita, the adult literacy rate, the school enrollment rate and life expectancy. It was started by the United Nations in 1990 to replace GNP as a more accurate way of measuring development. A HDI between 1 and 0.8 is considered high, 0.8 and 0.6 is considered medium and 0.6 to 0.4 is considered low. Examples: HDI rank Country GDP per capita 2002 Human development index 2002 3 Australia 28,260 0.946 72 Brazil 7,77
