It should go without saying that the global economy has been going through tempestuous times since the outbreak of the pandemic. However, amid the economic disruption, many countries managed to display remarkable growth in their GDP per capita from 2020 to 2021. Using data from The World Bank, we analyzed various countries’ GDP per capita (in current U.S. dollars as well as constant 2015 dollars) and their change over the years. For this study, we decided to focus on Brazil and its GDP per capita.
Read on to find out the Brazil GDP per capita, its change over the years, and other economic details about South America’s largest country by area and population.
Brazil GDP per Capita: A Detailed Analysis
According to the latest data from The World Bank, Brazil GDP per capita is $7,507.16, as of 2021 (in current U.S. dollars). Compare that figure with America’s GDP per capita of $70,248.63 (also in current U.S. dollars). American GDP per capita is almost ten-times higher than that of Brazil’s. However, using current U.S. dollar figures doesn’t account for inflation, so it’s more instructive to use constant 2015 dollars. Using constant 2015 dollar figures, Brazil GDP per capita as of 2021 is $8,537.94 versus an American GDP per capita of $61,855.52.
Over the last 10 years, Brazil GDP per capita has been experiencing some major ups and downs. Like almost every country in the world, the Great Recession of the late 2000s dealt Brazil’s economy a setback. From 2008 to 2009, Brazil GDP per capita experienced an annual decline of 1.07%, which was noticeably milder than the corresponding American decline in GDP per capita for the same period, when it fell by 3.45% from 2008 to 2009. However, Brazil’s GDP per capita witnessed some serious disruptions since then, whereas the U.S. had not (at least until the pandemic struck).
In the mid-2010s, Brazil GDP per capita experienced some steep declines. Below is a breakdown of the per capita GDP of Brazil for the years from 2001 to 2021, with amounts in constant 2015 dollars:
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Looking at these figures, you’ll see that Brazil’s GDP per capita declined by 0.35% from 2013 to 2014. Then it really dropped, by 4.36% from 2014 to 2015. And it continued to drop, declining by 4.06% from 2015 to 2016. Finally, Brazil GDP per capita annual growth reentered positive territory from 2016 to 2017, increasing by 0.52%.
The reason for Brazil’s decline in GDP per capita in the mid-2010s was due to the 2014 Brazilian economic crisis, fueled by both political crisis and the 2014 commodity price shock. You can see the effects of this economic crisis in the change in the value of Brazil’s exports during those years.
Based on data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), in 2013 Brazilian exports totaled roughly $237 billion in value, with iron ore accounting for 14% of total export value, equal to $33.1 billion. But by 2014, Brazilian exports only totaled $225 billion in value, with iron ore exports contracting to 11.7% of total export value (equal to $26.3 billion). In 2015, things got even worse, as Brazil’s exports amounted to a total value of only $193 billion and iron ore had fallen to account for only 8.21% of total export value that year (or $15.9 billion); indeed, exports of soybeans had overtaken iron ore in both percentage terms (10.9%) and in dollar amounts ($21 billion). And in 2016, the trend continued, with Brazil’s exports totaling even less, at $188 billion in 2016 versus $193 billion in 2015. It would not be until 2017 that Brazil’s exports would recover, reaching a total export value of approximately $222 billion.
However, during the period from 2013 to 2020, Brazil’s export markets underwent significant shifts. In 2013, China as an export destination, accounted for 19.4% of Brazil’s $237 billion in total export value that year; the U.S. accounted for 10.5%; Argentina accounted for 8.27%; and the Netherlands 5.65%. Moving forward to 2020, exports to China now account for 31.7% of Brazil’s total export value; the U.S. accounts for 10.2%; Argentina accounts for a mere 4%; and the Netherlands only 3.12%. Those disruptive years in the mid-2010s have forever altered Brazil’s export economy.
Brazil GDP per Capita: Worst Years of Annual Growth
Stretching back to 1960, the first year The World Bank has GDP per capita data for, Brazil has experienced ups and downs in its annual GDP growth per capita, just like any other country. But it is interesting zeroing in on which year-over-year period saw the worst declines in Brazil GDP per capita growth. Based on the data, the worst year-over-year decline in Brazil GDP per capita occurred from 1980 to 1981, when it decreased by 6.45%. The second worst period of annual growth in Brazil GDP per capita occurred from 1989 to 1990, when it decreased by 6.07%.
So, what happened during these periods? The period 1980 to 1981 was amid the early 1980s recession, a severe economic recession that affected not just the U.S. economy but the global economy. Americans recognize the early 1980s recession as the period that witnessed a famous “double-dip” recession: The early 1980s recession in the U.S. is cited as an example of a W-shaped recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research considers that two recessions occurred in the early 1980s. The economy fell into recession from January 1980 to July 1980, contracting at an 8% annual rate from April to June 1980. The economy then entered a rapid period of growth, and in the first three months of 1981 grew at an 8.4% annual rate. As the Federal Reserve under Paul Volcker raised interest rates to combat inflation, the economy dipped back into recession — and thus the term "double-dip" recession — from July 1981 to November 1982. The economy then entered a period of mostly vigorous growth for the rest of the decade.
But too often it is forgotten that the early 1980s recession was in fact a global economic downturn; one that significantly reshaped the national economies of many countries as well as the global economy overall. From the period 1965-1966 to 1979-1980, Brazil’s GDP per capita never experienced negative annual growth. From 1972 to 1973, the annual growth rate of Brazil GDP per capita was a stunning 11.25%. In that one-year period, Brazil’s GDP per capita in constant 2015 dollars rose from $4,224.20 in 1972 to $4,699.45 in 1973. In fact, that 11.25% annual growth rate of Brazil GDP per capita from 1972 to 1973 would be the highest annual rate for the entire period from 1960 through 2021.
The next worst period of annual growth in Brazil GDP per capita was 1989 to 1990. From 1989 to 1990, Brazil’s GDP per capita fell from $6,479.08 in 1989, down to $6,086.08 in 1990 (in constant 2015 dollars). In the U.S., there was an eight-month recession, from July 1990 to March 1991. While short and comparatively not that severe when contrasted with the recessions of the early 1980s or the mid-1970s, the early 1990s recession was felt with different levels of severity depending on the country.
In the U.S., American GDP per capita experienced an annual decline of 1.43% from 1990 to 1991. However, in Brazil, the dip in GDP per capita came in the previous one-year period from 1989 to 1990. And Brazil’s GDP per capita annual decline of 6.07% from 1989-1990 was far more severe compared to America’s annual decline of 1.43% from 1990-1991.
What Other Countries Experienced Severe GDP per Capita Decline in 1990?
Brazil’s annual decline in GDP per capita of 6.07% from 1989 to 1990 was one of the worst in the world. But there were other nations that experienced worse year-over-year declines in GDP per capita than Brazil. Here’s a look at them:
- Georgia GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -14.77%
- Greenland GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -12.2%
- Albania GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -11.19%
- Democratic Republic of the Congo GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -9.58%
- Cameroon GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -8.91%
- Bulgaria GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -7.46%
- Dominican Republic GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -7.43%
- Peru GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -7.07%
- Sudan GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -6.99%
- Chad GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -6.75%
- Angola GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -6.63%
- Ukraine GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -6.56%
- Brazil GDP per capita annual growth, 1989-1990: -6.07%
The above list of countries is an interesting mix. To dismiss the above list of countries as being ones that belong to the “developing world” or “Third World” is unhelpful because the countries are so diverse. There are, however, some patterns.
For example, Georgia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine were all Eastern European communist regimes that were experiencing the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the U.S.S.R. For them, the economic disruption of the U.S.S.R. collapsing and Eastern European communism also falling to pieces certainly had an influence on their GDP per capita growth rates declining from 1989 to 1990. Meanwhile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Sudan, Chad, and Angola have some shared characteristics beyond merely being African nations. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was at the time called Zaire and led by Mobutu, a convenient Cold War ally of America whose dictatorship opposed Soviet communist penetration into Africa. With the end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union, Mobutu and Zaire found itself in dire straits as relations with the U.S. cooled sharply. As a result, Mobutu’s Zaire regime faced calls for reform and serious disruptions.
Angola, which had been undergoing a civil war since 1975, had between 1975 and 1991 implemented socialist central planning and Marxist-Leninist one-party rule. But not unlike Zaire, the ending of the Cold War saw a shift in Angola’s politics and economic system, as it moved away from Marxism towards social democracy. This shift came with consequent economic disruptions as well.
Cameroon suffered a severe economic crisis from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, with the late 1980s being a particularly acute period of crisis. A big contributor to Cameroon’s economic woes was the sharp drop in the price of petroleum, no doubt linked to the 1980s oil glut as the price of oil globally declined markedly since its peak at the turn of the 1970s-to-1980s. To this day, crude petroleum remains Cameroon’s biggest export, with an export value of $1.46 billion, as of 2020, and accounting for 39.6% of total export value, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). Back in 2000, crude petroleum accounted for an even greater share of Cameroon’s total export value, at 41.8%. Both Chad and Sudan were embroiled in serious domestic and international conflicts in the 1980s and into the 1990s, no doubt having an impact on their economies.
Interestingly, the only other country in South America besides Brazil to appear on the above list is Peru (though Suriname experienced an annual GDP per capita decline of 5.52% from 1989 to 1990; it just didn’t make the list because the list begins with Brazil’s decline and nations that experienced declines worse than Brazil’s). Peru suffered a worse annual decline in GDP per capita than Brazil, -7.07% versus Brazil’s -6.07%. Peru GDP per capita in constant 2015 dollars fell from $2,900.35 in 1989, down to $2,695.41 in 1990. And indeed, the early 1990s would not be a good time for Peru’s GDP per capita, as it reached a historic low of $2,628.79 in 1992.
