per capita

American  

[per kap-i-tuh] / pər ˈkæp ɪ tə /

adjective

1. by or for each individual person.

   income per capita.

2. Law. noting or pertaining to a method of dividing an estate by which all those equally related to the decedent take equal shares individually without regard to the number of lines of descent.

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per capita British  

/ pə ˈkæpɪtə /

adjective

1. of or for each person

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per capita Cultural  

1. A Latin phrase literally meaning “by heads,” and translated as “for each person.” It is a common unit for expressing data in statistics. A country's per capita personal income, for example, is the average personal income per person.

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Etymology

Origin of per capita

1675–85; < Latin: literally, by heads

Example Sentences

The Jewish state now has a higher per capita gross domestic product than Germany or Qatar.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026

So one way to measure whether people are doing better on average is to adjust economic growth by the number of people, using GDP per capita.

From BBC • May 14, 2026

The lowest-income counties have the highest per capita participation rates, according to a recent report from Stokes.

From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026

With a per capita income of $1,500, according to the World Bank, Pakistan vies with landlocked Nepal for the title of poorest country in the region.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

The number of police officers per capita in the United States rose about 14 percent during the 1990s.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt