per capita

1. Per unit of population; per person: In that year, Americans earned $15,304 per capita. Among the states, Connecticut has a high per capita income.
2. Equally to each individual.

[Medieval Latin, by heads : Latin per, per + Latin capita, accusative pl. of caput, head.]

A Latin term that translates into "by head," basically meaning "average per person."

Investopedia Says:
Often the term is used to express a country or region's income level. For example, consider a fictional region that has a collective income of $1 000 000 and 20 residents. The per capita income, or average income per person, is $50 000.

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By or for each individual. Anything figured per capita is calculated by the number of individuals involved and is divided equally among all. For example, if property taxes total $1 million in a town and there are 1,000 inhabitants, the per-capita property tax is $1,000.

[Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the descent and distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals.

In a per capita distribution, an equal share of an estate is given to each heir, all of whom stand in equal degree of relationship from a decedent. For example, a woman died intestate, that is, without a will. Her husband and three children predeceased her, and her only living heirs are her ten grandchildren. These grandchildren will take per capita. In other words, each grandchild will receive one-tenth of the estate.

Per capita differs from per stirpes, where persons do not inherit in their individual capacity but take as part of a group represented by a deceased ancestor closer in line to the decedent.

A Latin phrase literally meaning “by heads,” and translated as “for each person.” It is a common unit for expressing data in statistics. A country's per capita personal income, for example, is the average personal income per person.

by heads or individuals

Per capita is a term adapted from Latin phrase pro capite meaning "per (each) head" with pro meaning "per" or "for each", and capite (caput ablative) meaning "head." Both words together equate to the phrase "for each head."

It is commonly and usually used in the field of statistics in place of saying "for each person" or "per person".[1][2]

It is also used in wills to indicate that each of the named beneficiaries should receive, by devise or bequest, equal shares of the estate. This is in contrast to a per stirpes division, in which each branch of the inheriting family inherits an equal share of the estate. It is usually a sum divided by an amount of people.

See also

Look up per capita in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Per capita income

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