per capita
American Heritage Dictionary:
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per cap·i·ta
(pər kăp'ĭ-tə) 
adv. & adj.
adv. & adj.
- 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.
- Equally to each individual.
[Medieval Latin, by heads : Latin per, per + Latin capita, accusative pl. of caput, head.]
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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per capita
means 'by heads' and has largely replaced the more strictly correct form per caput ('for each head') as the normal way of saying 'for each person or head (of population)'. Fowler (1926) regarded this use of per capita as 'a modern blunder, encouraged in some recent dictionaries', but its use is now standard:
During the same period, per capita consumption rose 15 percent in terms of constant prices—Dædalus, 1990.Per caput is also still found, but is much less common and often has a pedantic tone:
It may be argued that per-caput cigarette consumption is not a good measure of cigarette consumption in young women—Lancet, 1976.
| per, people, persons, pension | |
| per cent, perceive, percentage |
Barron's Business Dictionary:
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per capita
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.
| Per Annum, People Intensive, Peon | |
| Per Diem, Per Se, Per Stirpes |
West's Encyclopedia of American Law:
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Per Capita
This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.
[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.
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Economics:
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per capita
(puhr kap-i-tuh)
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.
Investopedia Financial Dictionary:
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Per Capita
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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Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'per capita'
- Latin Words and Phrases - per capita: lit. per head; per person
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Per capita
Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per (preposition, taking the accusative case, meaning "by, by means of") and capita (accusative plural of the noun caput, "head"). The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person. The term is used in a wide variety of social sciences and statistical research contexts, including government statistics, economic indicators, and built environment studies.
It is commonly and usually used in the field of statistics in place of saying "for each person" or "per person".[1] 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 (Latin stirps, plural stirpes) of the inheriting family inherits an equal share of the estate.
References
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Barron's Business Dictionary
Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2007 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.
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West's Encyclopedia of American Law
West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Economics
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more
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