Economy GDP per capita adjusted for prices and hours worked (The Economist)

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The Economist has published for the second year a new ranking of countries by GDP per capita adjusted for prices and hours worked. GDP per capita adjusted for the cost of life is nothing new. It's usually known as GDP per capita at PPP (purchasing-power parity). What's interesting here is the huge difference in ranking once adjusted for hours actually worked. Countries where people spend long hours at work, like in East Asia, see their rank drop considerably, while countries known for their work-life balance (Scandinavia, Germany, Benelux, France) go up in the ranking. Note that the ranking excludes Ireland because their GDP calculations are skewed due to the large presence of American multinationals having their European HQ there.

Economist_GDP_capita.png


Here is the ranking adjusted for prices and hours worked (NB: I only listed the countries with a GDP per capita over $20,000):
  1. Norway : $119,000
  2. Luxembourg: $112,000
  3. Qatar: $101,000
  4. Belgium: $92,600
  5. Denmark: $90,800
  6. Switzerland : $90,000
  7. Iceland : $86,600
  8. Austria : $86,300
  9. Sweden : $85,300
  10. United States : $83,400
  11. Netherlands : $83,400
  12. Germany : $82,800
  13. Singapore : $81,000
  14. France : $80,200
  15. Finland : $75,900
  16. Britain : $69,300
  17. UAE : $69,200
  18. Italy : $68,900
  19. Macau : $67,600
  20. Australia : $67,300
  21. Andorra : $65,900
  22. Spain : $65,400
  23. Bahrain : $64,400
  24. Canada : $63,400
  25. Turkey : $61,400
  26. Slovenia : $57,600
  27. Kuwait : $56,300
  28. Malta : $56,300
  29. Hong Kong : $55,300
  30. Brunei : $55,000
  31. Saudi Arabia : $54,800
  32. Lithuania : $54,500
  33. Portugal : $53,500
  34. Slovakia : $53,200
  35. Israel : $53,100
  36. Czechia : $52,900
  37. Guyana : $52,600
  38. Puerto Rico : $51,800
  39. Latvia : $51,200
  40. Poland : $51,200
  41. Romania : $50,500
  42. New Zealand : $49,800
  43. Japan : $49,200
  44. Estonia : $48,900
  45. Croatia : $47,900
  46. Cyprus : $47,700
  47. Hungary : $46,700
  48. Kazakhstan : $46,500
  49. South Korea : $45,300
  50. Seychelles : $45,100
  51. Oman : $44,000
  52. Mauritius : $41,000
  53. Panama : $40,900
  54. Russia : $39,400
  55. Greece : $39,300
  56. Montenegro : $38,300
  57. Bulgaria : $37,900
  58. Belarus : $37,300
  59. Bahamas : $36,400
  60. St Kitts & Nevis : $34,700
  61. Argentina : $34,200
  62. Antigua & Barbuda : $33,000
  63. Trinidad & Tobago : $32,900
  64. Chile : $32,500
  65. Malaysia : $30,900
  66. Serbia : $30,600
  67. Gabon : $30,500
  68. Botswana : $27,500
  69. Costa Rica : $27,500
  70. North Macedonia : $27,400
  71. Georgia : $27,100
  72. Azerbaijan : $26,700
  73. Equatorial Guinea : $26,100
  74. Saint Lucia : $25,600
  75. Bosnia : $25,500
  76. South Africa : $25,400
  77. Armenia : $25,200
  78. Maldives : $24,600
  79. Albania : $24,200
  80. Brazil : $23,400
  81. Barbados : $22,800
  82. Mexico : $22,400
  83. Dominican Republic : $21,600
  84. St Vincent & the Grenadines : $20,500

What I found most surprising in this ranking is how well Turkey does (just behind Canada!) and how poorly Japan is ranked (43rd, behind Romania, Poland and Guyana!). On the other hand it's true that the Japanese are not efficient workers. They spend far too long in the office, often just waiting for their boss to finish as it's frowned upon to leave work before the boss. Japan also has lots of useless jobs that do not create any value like young women greeting customers in shops or companies, people guiding cars outside of car parks or warning pedestrians about construction on the pavement when a simple sign would do. These are just a few of many examples of unproductive jobs that merely exist for convenience's sake or as a courtesy to customers.

In Europe, Belgium went up the most once adjusted per hours worked. That in itself is not surprising considering how little people work here. :rolleyes: It always takes ages to get anything done as people are out of office or away on holidays.

Greece has dropped far in the ranking since the 2008 financial crisis. Greeks now earn about the same per hour as Russians, and less than people from Mauritius and the Seychelles.
 
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And in Belgium the difference between working and not working is very low.
You can guess how much the non-active part of the population gets.
It is not stimulating and demotivating the working people.
It creates a downward spiral into non-activity, not only in eternal unemployment benefits, there is also a large number of people nested in longlasting healthcare.
It is a legacy from the Walloon Socialists, the PS.
I hope the new government to be formed without the PS will do something about it.

On the other hand, pensions in Belgium are rather low.
 
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