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

Measuring per capita, it was the city’s safest year since 1959.

From Los Angeles Times

Economists often battle over the degree to which Indian consumers can support the economy, given that per capita income is around $2,700 a year.

From The Wall Street Journal

With gross domestic product per capita on par with Japan and a stagnant population, South Korea’s tigerish growth days are behind it.

From Barron's

He points out that Mississippi has already passed the U.K. in per capita GDP and is set to pass Germany any day now.

From The Wall Street Journal

Also, while Massachusetts gets the most National Institutes of Health funding of any state on a per capita basis, changes are afoot.

From The Wall Street Journal