India moves up one notch to 126 in per capita GDP terms, says IMF data

Qatar ranked highest; US, UK fail to make it to the top 10 league

India has moved up one position to 126th in terms of GDP per capita of countries, still ranked lower than all its BRICS peers, while Qatar remains the world's richest on this parameter, as per IMF data.

The data, which forms part of the latest World Economic Outlook report of the International Monetary Fund, ranks over 200 countries in terms of per capita GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP).

PPP between two countries is the rate at which the currency of one country needs to be converted into that of a second country to ensure that a given amount of the first country's currency will purchase the same volume of goods and services in the second country as it does in the first.

India has seen its per capita GDP rise to $7,170 in 2017, from $6,690 last year, helping improve its rank by a position to 126th.

Qatar remains top-ranked with per capita GDP of $1,24,930, followed by Macao at the second position with $1,14,430 and Luxembourg third with $1,09,190.

Among BRICS countries, India has the lowest per capita GDP. Russia boasts of a GDP per capita of $27,900, while for China, it stood at $16,620, Brazil at $15,500 and South Africa at $13,400.

Interestingly, as per a recent Credit Suisse report, India is home to 2.45 lakh millionaires with a total household wealth of $5 trillion.

As per the IMF data, the richest 10 countries in the world in per capita GDP terms also include Singapore (4th, $90,530), Brunei (5th, $76,740), Ireland (6th, $72,630), Norway (7th, $70,590), Kuwait (8th, $69,670), United Arab Emirates (9th, $68,250) and Switzerland (10th, $61,360).

The US has failed to make it to the top 10 and is ranked 13th with a GDP per capita of $59,500 while the UK is ranked even lower.

According to a Fortune magazine report based on the IMF data, several top-ranking countries such as Qatar and Brunei "have fuel and oil propelling their economies", while investment and strong banking systems have helped propel economic growth in other countries like Iceland and Ireland.