Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that China’s economy is on the verge of surpassing the U.S. economy in size. (By one measure, anyway—purchasing power parity as calculated by the World Bank’s International Comparison Program.) What does it mean?
Start with what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean China is rich. All that gross domestic product has to be spread around more than a billion people. On a per-capita basis, the highest-income country in the world in 2011 was the oil-soaked and lightly populated Gulf monarchy of Qatar, at $146,000 per person. The U.S., as this chart shows, was No. 12, at just under $50,000.
China? China was No. 101, at a little less than $10,000 per capita. It’s not labeled on the chart, but if it were, it would appear between Serbia and Dominica.
via The U.S. Is Big and Rich. China Is Just Big – Businessweek.
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