How to measure wealth?
In the previous section we have been talking about wealth/poverty. In principle they seem to be clear concepts, but...
Actividad
- Imagine five families. In the following table you can see two data series: the members of the family and the monthly income of each of them. Which is the richest? and the poorest?
| FAMILY | NO. MEMBERS |
MONTHLY INCOME |
| Pérez Family |
4 | 1780€ |
| Rodríguez Family | 6 | 2700€ |
| Ruiz Family | 5 | 2300€ |
| López Family | 3 | 1500€ |
| Domínguez Family | 8 | 3520€ |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Income per Capital (IPC).
Well then, imagine the countries are families. The GDP of a country would be the annual income (watch out!), and the inhabitants, the number of members.
- What will the income per capital be?
- Write an appropriate definition of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Calculating the Income per Capital.
Let's calculate the Income per Capital of a few countries. In order to do so, we are going to use the following data source: the worldwide GDP.
These are the countries:
SPAIN - INDIA -CHINA - UNITED STATES - LUXEMBOURG - BRAZIL
- In absolute terms, which are the countries with the highest GDP?
- In absolute terms, which are the richest countries?
If you want to calculate quickly the incomes per capita of ALL the countries in the world, see section TECHNIQUES-SPREADSHEETS
Let's think...
Calculate the income per capital of Equatorial Guinea.
Find out on your own which is the child mortality of Equatorial Guinea (or look it up in SOURCES).
* Do you think the rate of the IPC reflects accurately the welfare of a country?