per capita
3 synonyms for per capita, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Adjective — Calculated for each person, by dividing a total figure by the number of people in a population.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
per head
per person
How to use per capita
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
per capita income
GDP per capita
per capita consumption
per capita spending
Standard in economics, statistics and journalism. Usually written without a hyphen, though a hyphen before a noun is acceptable.
Etymology
Latin, literally 'by heads', from per 'by' and capita, plural of caput 'head'.
Full origin of per capita →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between per capita and per person?
They mean the same thing, but per capita is the technical term used when a total is divided by a population to give a statistical average. Per person is the everyday phrasing and is more natural for concrete amounts, such as 'thirty pounds per person'.
What does GDP per capita tell you?
It gives the country's total economic output divided by its population, which makes economies of very different sizes comparable. It says nothing about how that output is distributed, so a country with high GDP per capita can still have widespread poverty.
Is per capita the same as average?
It is a specific kind of average, the mean per head. Like any mean it can be pulled far from typical experience by a small number of very high values, which is why analysts often report the median alongside it.
