Turkey's GDP per capita index up in 2017

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita index based on purchasing power parity (PPP) was 65 while the average for 28 European Union (EU) countries was 100 last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Tuesday.

Turkey’s GDP per capita index was 35 percent below the EU average, according to the preliminary results of the European Comparison Program for 2017, TurkStat said.

Official data showed that Turkey's GDP per capita index based on PPP recorded a recovery last year, as the index value was 64, or 36 percent below the EU average, in 2016.

The PPP is an index that allows a comparison for both economic activity and living standard between different countries.

"Among 37 countries involved in the comparison, the country with the highest index of GDP per capita was Luxembourg with 253 and the country with the lowest index of GDP per capita was Albania with 29," TurkStat said.

Luxembourg's GDP per capita in 2017 was 153 percent above the EU28 average whereas Albania was 71 percent below, the report revealed.

The official report includes data from the EU28 countries plus three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries -- Switzerland, Iceland and Norway -- and five candidate countries -- Turkey, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania -- along with one potential candidate country, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Price level

TurkStat reported that the actual individual consumption (AIC) per capita in Turkey was 32 percent below the EU average.

"While GDP per capita is mainly an indicator of the level of economic activity, AIC per capita is an alternative indicator better adapted to describe the material welfare situation of households," it said, noting that AIC consists of goods and services actually paid or purchased by consumers as well as provided freely by government, or by non-profit organizations.

The institute stated that among the 37 countries included in the comparison, Norway had the highest actual individual consumption per capita with 132, while Albania had the lowest with 37.

TurkStat also said: "According to the preliminary results for 2017, price level index for AIC was 46 for Turkey."

"This figure represents that the same basket of goods and services purchased for the cost of €100 in total of 28 EU countries, could be purchased for €46 in Turkey," it added.

Through the end of this year, TurkStat will release the permanent results for 2017, based on Eurostat figures calculated within the European Comparison Program in collaboration with OECD.