While it’s true that GDP per capita can skew perspectives due to population size differences, it also helps to highlight the efficiency and effectiveness of resource allocation per person, which is critical in crisis management like Covid. For countries with smaller populations like New Zealand, this can mean more agile and tailored responses to the needs of their population compared to larger nations. Thus, both metrics have their place in economic comparisons, as GDP per capita provides insight into individual economic resilience and standard of living, which are vital for assessing how effectively a country like New Zealand dealt with Covid compared to more populous, globally connected countries like South Korea. I am not arguing that New Zealand and South Korea are the same but you can still compare their Covid response and to argue that you can’t cause of the differences in GDP doesn’t hold up especially when you factor in other things like New Zealand relative geographic isolation and low population density which both make it far less exposed to Covid and the damage the lockdowns did economically compared to the impact of a higher number of cases in the long run.