National Income per Capita

Among the different measures available in the System of National Accounts (SNA), net national income (NNI) per capita is the best indicator for comparing economic well-being across countries. NNI is defined as gross domestic product (GDP) plus net receipts of wages, salaries and property income from abroad, minus the depreciation of fixed capital assets (dwellings, buildings, machinery, transport equipment and physical infrastructure) through wear and tear and obsolescence. Estimates of NNI per capita, however, are subject to greater uncertainties than those associated to GDP per capita, the most widely used indicator of national income (and the one included in previous editions of Society at a Glance), because of the practical difficulties in measuring international income flows and capital depreciation. Because of lack of data on capital depreciation, NNI estimates are not available for Hungary and Poland: based on values of their “gross” national income per capita (USD 14 000 and USD 11 000, respectively, in 2003), both countries would however appear to belong to the low half of the income range between USD 10 000 and 20 000 shown in Figure GE1.1.