Real income is the income of individuals or nations after adjusting for inflation. It is calculated by dividing nominal income by the price level. Real variables such as real income and real GDP are variables that are measured in physical units, while nominal variables such as nominal income and nominal GDP are measured in monetary units. Therefore, real income is a more useful indicator of well-being since it measures the amount of goods and services that can be purchased with the income. Growth of real income is related to real gross national income per capita growth.
According to the classical dichotomy theory, real variables and nominal variables are separate in the long run, so they are not influenced by each other. In other words, if the nominal starting income was 100 and there was 10% inflation (general rise in prices, for example, what cost 10 now costs 11), then with nominal income of still 100, one can buy roughly 9% less; so if nominal income was not adjusted for inflation (did not rise by 10%), real income has dropped by approximately 9%. But if the classical dichotomy holds, nominal income will eventually go up by 10%, leaving real income unchanged from its original value.
Real gross national income per capita by country The real gross national income (GNI) per capita in constant 2015 USD according to the World Bank is shown for last available year:
Country GNI per capita(constant 2015 USD) Year 137,688.9 2015 119,539.7 2024 104,870.8 2025 85,646.1 2024 81,295.1 2015 70,610.5 2025 67,190.8 2025 67,924.4 2025 64,996.3 2025 64,641.6 2024 62,544.0 2015 62,326.9 2024 58,380.9 2024 56,459.3 2015 54,063.0 2015 51,697.3 2025 51,506.8 2024 51,094.3 2024 50,109.6 2025 119,539.7 2024 45,964.4 2024 45,752.5 2025 45,310.1 2024 45,195.5 2024 44,601.5 2025 44,384.8 2025 42,710.5 2025 41,481.0 2025 39,871.0 2024 39,758.4 2025 37,860.0 2025 36,729.6 2025 34,912.0 2025 34,174.4 2024 32,605.3 2015 32,16.6 2025 31,544.6 2024 31,132.9 2025 29,271.5 2025 29,932.5 2024 27,735.9 2025 26,622.3 2024 26,411.5 2025 26,301.9 2015 25,828.6 2024 23,290.3 2025 21,337.3 2024 21,131.3 2015 19,965.4 2024 62,544.0 2025 3,761.3 2025 19,821.4 2024 19,709.7 2015 19,688.5 2015 19,666.2 2015 19,156.2 2025 19,082.1 2015 18,159.2 2024 17,968.0 2024 17,900.1 2024 17,890.6 2025 16,917.0 2024 16,471.2 2023 16,231.9 2024 15,881.0 2024 15,550.1 2025 15,132.1 2015 14,132.0 2025 14,071.7 2025 13,634.2 2024 13,362.2 2025 12,014.5 2024 12,014.0 2025 11,463.3 2025 10,940.9 2015 10,881.5 2025 10,641.1 2015 10,450.3 2025 10,000.4 2025 9,995.9 2023 9,491.1 2025 9,476.2 2015 8,890.7 2025 8,835.5 2025 8,790.6 2015 8,721.4 2025 8,184.4 2019 8,137.1 2015 7,968.8 2015 7,906.9 2024 7,679.1 2015 7,454.7 2025 7,314.8 2025 7,241.6 2024 7,202.2 2025 7,184.5 2024 7,169.7 2015 7,117.1 2025 6,889.2 2025 6,863.5 2025 6,816.7 2024 6,755.0 2025 6,662.5 2024 6,242.2 2025 6,164.4 2025 6,018.1 2024 5,855.6 2025 5,784.6 2025 5,686.4 2025 5,673.0 2015 5,533.4 2025 5,473.4 2024 5,427.9 2024 5,422.6 2015 5,395.4 2015 5,370.3 2025 5,324.6 2015 5,192.5 2015 5,182.3 2015 5,001.9 2024 5,000.8 2025 4,855.6 2025 4,819.4 2025 4,788.0 2015 4,702.1 2024 4,647.7 2025 4,420.0 2025 4,404.8 2025 4,396.2 2015 4,381.6 2025 4,297.9 2025 4,277.9 2025 4,205.7 2025 4,087.6 2025 3,840.6 2025 3,764.8 2025 3,761.2 2025 3,419.2 2015 3,386.2 2024 3,350.0 2024 3,258.9 2024 3,219.3 2015 3,189.6 2024 3,161.7 2024 3,038.0 2024 2,916.2 2025 2,519.1 2015 2,488.1 2020 2,488.1 2025 2,470.7 2025 2,423.4 2025 2,322.3 2015 2,299.0 2025 2,267.1 2016 2,175.8 2024 2,094.2 2025 2,069.1 2025 1,904.8 2025 1,895.9 2024 1,753.3 2025 1,745.0 2025 1,576.3 2025 1,527.7 2024 1,482.3 2025 1,468.0 2025 1,376.2 2025 1,375.4 2025 1,371.8 2024 1,306.6 2025 1,303.9 2015 1,286.8 2024 1,270.4 2015 1,267.7 2025 1,263.3 2015 1,249.9 2023 1,177.8 2025 1,137.6 2025 1,125.5 2015 1,124.7 2025 1,121.1 2025 1,010.6 2023 1,08.7 2025 991.4 2018 979.5 2025 972.4 2025 948.0 2025 947.4 2015 885.5 2025 855.8 2025 818.0 2025 815.8 2015 727.8 2025 632.5 2015 609.5 2025 569.0 2015 551.0 2025 526.7 2015 498.7 2025 480.7 2025 473.0 2025 453.4 2025 254.4 2015
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