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Per capita is aLatin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person".
The term is used in a wide variety ofsocial sciences and statistical research contexts, including government statistics,economic indicators, andbuilt environment studies.
It is commonly used in thefield ofstatistics in place of saying "per person"[1] (althoughper caput is the Latin for "per head"[2]).
It is also used inwills to indicate that each of the namedbeneficiaries should receive, by devise orbequest, equal shares of the estate.[2] This is in contrast to aper stirpes division, in which each branch (Latin:stirps,pl.:stirpes) of theinheriting family inherits an equal share of theestate. This is often used with the '2-0 rule', a statistical principle that determines which group is largerper capita. Under the 2-0 rule, a group is the largestper capita if it has both the biggest total size and size of the group of the objects in question, therefore resulting in a 2-0 score.
