Claim: Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, was reported to have recently made a claim that the global GDP per capita of the world is $10,700 and that the GDP per capita of the Commonwealth countries is $3,500

Verdict: False

Full Story:

On September 13 and 14, a Commonwealth Trade and Investment Conference was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, to discuss the state of investment among Commonwealth countries and how to expand the process beyond the Commonwealth to the global stage. Organised by the Bangladeshi government in collaboration with the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, the event was attended by relevant stakeholders.

The Common Wealth Countries are the 56 countries that have an association with the British Empire, whether through a past history of colonisation or subsequent application to join the body. The United Kingdom and Nigeria are also parts of the commonwealth nations

Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the general election in February, was invited to the forum by the organiser to speak as the keynote speaker on the topic “SME Formalisation and Internationalisation in the Commonwealth: Empowering Growth and Global Reach.”

Speaking on the subject, Mr. Peter Obi reeled off some statistical claims in which he noted the economic significance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and their contribution to global growth in terms of investment and international trade.

Mr Obi claimed in his presentation, citing the World Bank as his source, that the global GDP is $10,700, while the GDP of Commonwealth countries is $3,500. The video clip of Mr Peter Obi’s  presentation is here

“If you look at the global per capita of the world is about 10,700 dollars, but within the Commonwealth family it is just 3, 500 dollars”, Mr Obi said.

Meanwhile, the Gross Domestic Product Per Capita is measured by economic output per person and is calculated by dividing the GDP of a country by its population.

Verification

To verify the claims by Mr Obi, NDR visited the World Bank website to check the most recent data reported by the organisation and to compare the figures Mr Obi stated at the forum. We also visited the International Monetary Fund for its  latest report on the global  GDP as a means to check the veracity of the information provided by Mr Obi.

According to the World Bank’s data on the global GDP in 2022, which is its latest report, the world GDP  per capita is $12,647.5.  The data, however, reveals that the last time the global GDP per capita was close to $10, 700, as claimed by Mr. Peter Obi, was in 2017, when it was $10, 746.9. Similarly, in 2020, the world GDP per capita was $10,895.7.

In the same vein, a further check into the IMF website also indicates that as of 2023, the world GDP per capita is $13,440, which is not close to $10,700 as claimed by the former Anambra state governor.

To also verify the claim that the GDP per capita of the commonwealth, we checked the official website of the commonwealth and it revealed that the combined GDP of commonwealth countries as of 2021 which was the most recent obtainable data on the website, was $13.1 trillion.

Also with the total population of the commonwealth countries estimated to be 2.5 billion according to the official data , the total GDP of the commonwealth countries which is $13.1 trillion was divided by the population and makes the GDP per capita of the commonwealth countries combined to be $5,240.

Conclusion

Therefore, the world Gross Domestic Product per capita is not $ 10,700, neither is the Gross Domestic Product of the Commonwealth countries anywhere close to $3,500. According to the data gathered from authoritative sources, the most recent data on the World GDP per capita is $13, 440 while the most recent data also indicates that the GDP of the commonwealth countries is $5,240.

Verdict

The claims by Mr Peter Obi about the world GDP per capita and the Commonwealth countries are both incorrect.