Per capita, per 1,000 and per 100,000

Why many figures are divided by population before countries are compared.

Totals mostly reflect a country's size: a large country will have more doctors, crimes or emissions than a small one. Dividing by population makes countries comparable.

Small rates are shown per 1,000 or per 100,000 people to avoid long decimals. "759 per 100,000" is the same as 7.59 per 1,000.

Check the denominator on each page. A rate per 1,000 live births, per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 or per member of the labour force answers a different question from a rate per inhabitant.

Measures on this site

• Hospital beds (Eurostat)
• Greenhouse gas emissions per person (Eurostat) (Eurostat)
• Intentional homicide rate (Eurostat) (Eurostat)
• GDP per capita in euro (Eurostat)