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Even after that 10x growth, median Chinese household income is only 13-16% of US median household income:

China: ~$10,000 – $12,000

US: ~$74,580 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022)



I think GDPPPP/capita is a better measure here, but the story is similar. From the IMF's 2025 numbers: USA $90k, China $29k, world average $26k.

Lovely tabulation of the data here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...


Purchasing power parity matters a lot too.


The context here is growth and I doubt China's GDPPPP/person has grown anywhere near as much as its GDP/person because the median Chinese household of 40 years ago could still afford the essentials (food, housing, clothing) that the PPP adjustment indexes off of. (It just couldn't afford any imports.)

Actually I doubt that economists even tried to calculate PPP of China 40 years ago because (even back then) the basket of goods used in the PPP calculation probably included gasoline and cars and such, which only the economic top 1% of China could afford 40 years ago, but if you forced the calculation somehow, you'd probably arrive at a GDPPPP/person not much lower than the current GDPPPP/person (i.e., China has grown spectacularly in GDP/person, but not in GDPPPP/person)


The difference now is that China makes a ton of consumer goods itself, so whereas 40 years ago Chinese PPP would have required forex, now it can be done internally.

That shift opens the possibility of GDPPPP changes in excess (or under) strict GDP per capita growth.




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