Does a drop in GDP per capita, with the population staying around the same, mean people on average are poorer? Essentially, I'm trying to determine if there is a correlation between a drop in GDP per capita (e.g. during the 2008 financial crisis, Australia's GDP per capita dropped from USD \$49,000 to $42,000 2009) and the average income.
Regardless of the population size, what matters in terms of income is real or nominal terms. The gdp per capita may rise despite a constant population for the economy. But is it real terms that’s what matters. In an environment where the inflation skyrockets, gdp per capita is misleading.