Those are aggregate numbers for entire countries. China still has over 4x the population of the US (I don't know what the working population ratio is but it is probably even bigger) so even if China's PPP adjusted GDP is roughly equal to the US it means that each Chinese citizen is only one-fourth as productive as each US citizen. This can also be extrapolated to mean each Chinese citizen can only afford one-fourth the quality of life of a US citizen (using the working population ratio this would be even less) and that is nothing to brag about. Only when China's per capita statistics are comparable to the US's or whichever other country is topping the charts (the US is high on the list but usually some Scandinavian countries are doing even better) should/could China's leaders, or any Chinese for that matter, consider it mission accomplished in restoring China's greatness even though they have done a good job thus far.
Chinese Economics Thread
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Those are aggregate numbers for entire countries. China still has over 4x the population of the US (I don't know what the working population ratio is but it is probably even bigger) so even if China's PPP adjusted GDP is roughly equal to the US it means that each Chinese citizen is only one-fourth as productive as each US citizen. This can also be extrapolated to mean each Chinese citizen can only afford one-fourth the quality of life of a US citizen (using the working population ratio this would be even less) and that is nothing to brag about. Only when China's per capita statistics are comparable to the US's or whichever other country is topping the charts (the US is high on the list but usually some Scandinavian countries are doing even better) should/could China's leaders, or any Chinese for that matter, consider it mission accomplished in restoring China's greatness even though they have done a good job thus far.
The government shouldn't interfere in such things. They can advocate, they can devise plans to encourage innovation and emphasis on quality, but that should be as far as it goes.
Anyway the government is already doing exactly that. But this kind of things take time.
Blackstone
Brigadier
Don't miss the forest for the trees, Xiabonan. The reason CCP propaganda isn't touting the GDP story is because Xi and the rest of the overlords don't believe it best serves their agenda, at this point in time. You could bet your bottom dollar it would be plastered all over China and the rest of the world, if Xi and cohorts think it serves their interests.
Yes. We should remember everyone, everywhere only does things (and doesn't do things) for their own interest. Even seemingly actions made out of goodwill have an underlying self serving motive.
antiterror13
Brigadier
when country A has 2x GDP per capita than country B, doesn't mean country A is 2x richer or have 2x productivity or 2x better lifestyle ... not true at all ... if you understand what GDP is ... you would understand what I mean
antiterror13
Brigadier
But I totally agree that China is still a developing country ... still a lot of potential .... especially in the Western area and somewhat in the central as well ... 6-7% annual growth in the next 20 years is very much achievable ... it means in 20 years time the GDP would be 4x than now and even more if you consider the appreciation of Yuan against US$ and other major currencies.
One area that China can improve hugely is in Farming ... too many people working there in very small scale ... imagine if China would have lets say 70% as productive as New Zealand (which is more productive than the American) in farming ...... the world would change dramatically ... even more if you include India (which at the moment is far less productive than China, let alone NZ)
We also can put this way: one Chinese pays $1, China got $1.3 billion. The US got that money, each Amercan has to pay $4. Each Chinese paid $100, China got $130 billion to defend the country. But each American has to pay $1500 annually to bomb infrastructures all over the world. We still see China accumulating the wealth while many countries can not keep up the destructions by the Americans. What a waste!
Lethe
Captain
As of 2010, China had 5.5x the working age (15-64) population of the United States, compared to 4.3x overall population.
Source: UN , 2012 ed.
I understand what you mean, which is why I said "extrapolating" in my previous post. Assuming a country's GDP is all for its own public good then that country's citizens are correspondingly better off. Of course that is not true in real life, just as it is not true in real life for other interpretations of GDP, so to me this is a better interpretation of GDP in this context than how the Business Insider article interpreted it.