In fact, how much richer are Westerners than Chinese?

How much richer are Westerners than Chinese?

How rich are Westerners? How much richer are we Chinese? How big is the difference?

Since the reform and opening up, my country’s economy and society have developed rapidly, and the urban and rural landscape has undergone earth-shaking changes. Many of us Chinese also feel that our waistline is getting harder and harder. After all, life is getting better and better. This is a fact. , I also believe it will be better and more prosperous. But there are also some people who are not very cool-headed and always feel good about themselves. They cannot correctly position the Chinese people in the global structure and cannot understand how much Chinese money occupies in the world's purses. Sun Tzu's Art of War says: "If you know yourself and the enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger." If you know yourself and don't know the enemy, or if you know the enemy and don't know yourself, you can only win half the battle. If you don't know both yourself and the enemy, you will definitely lose in a mess. Therefore, we must be a sensible person at all times, neither arrogant nor miserable, straightening our spine and working hard is the bright and right way to rejuvenate China.

How rich are the Chinese people? Maybe, this question has been lingering in your head, let us find out today. If you don’t compare, you don’t know. If you compare, you will be shocked. Take a look at the following set of data.

According to the World Bank’s ranking of economic development indicators of various countries in the world in 2003, and after the revision of economic growth indicators in 2004, the economic scale of each country is roughly:

The United States exceeds 11 trillion US dollars ( GDP per capita is US$38,000);

Japan is US$4.4 trillion (GDP per capita is US$34,000);

Germany is US$2.5 trillion (GDP per capita is US$34,000);

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The United Kingdom is US$2 trillion (GDP per capita is US$33,000);

France is US$1.8 trillion (GDP per capita is US$33,000);

China is US$1.5 trillion (Per capita GDP is US$1,200).

Although poverty is only a relative concept, it is a real feeling and a real thing. For example, the so-called poor in the United States (the national poverty standard annual income is US$39,000) are considered absolutely wealthy in China. The so-called rich people in our west are a bit embarrassed when they come to the eastern coastal areas. Although this is only an absolute value and may differ from the actual living standards, it still clearly reflects the true affluence of a place.

Are Europeans “poorer” than Americans?

The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, but accounts for nearly 30% of the world’s wealth. Compared with Europe, the latest data released by the European Chamber of Commerce this year shows that the economic strength of the United States leads the European Union for about 20 years. The European Chamber of Commerce said that the EU's current employment performance is roughly equivalent to the situation in the United States in 1978. In terms of per capita income, the United States had the current income level of Europeans as early as 1985.

According to statistics, the current average hourly wage in the United States is US$16, while in Denmark it is as high as US$33.46; Switzerland US$26.44; Luxembourg US$24.1; Norway US$23; Germany US$21.08; Italy US$20.08; and the United Kingdom US$19.41 .

Wealthy Europeans are now spending more money and time on vacations (Europeans enjoy 4 to 6 weeks of vacation every year), welfare enjoyment and spiritual consumption. A British survey report shows that in the past two years, Britons have lost 2.7 million working days just to take personal leave for their pets. Among Germany's current unemployed population, which is as high as 13%, it is unclear how many people are voluntarily unemployed (give up employment).

Not long ago, the New York Metropolitan Rapid Transit Authority (under the government's public service department) recruited a group of repairmen. The Transit Authority has no academic or identity requirements for the applicants, as long as they have 4 years of maintenance experience. That’s it. The salary standard is US$25 per hour, and the annual salary can reach US$52,000. In addition, after a one-year trial period, you can enjoy family medical insurance, retirement pension plan, statutory holidays and one month of paid vacation per year.

For the most popular non-accountant majors in the United States this year, the starting salary is close to $45,000. The annual salary of accountants with more than 5 years of work in the UK is as high as 80,000 to 90,000 US dollars; the annual salary of accountants in France and Germany is not less than 70,000 US dollars.

During the U.S. presidential election in October 2004, the Los Angeles Times published a survey on the annual salary income of ordinary employees in different occupations: University of Science professors (10 years of teaching experience) US$80,000; middle school teachers ( 3 years of teaching experience) US$35,000; diplomat (2 years of experience) US$48,000; judge's assistant (3 months) US$38,000; bank teller (3 years of experience) US$40,000; financial planner US$100,000; lawyer 130,000 US dollars $110,000 for insurance brokers; $45,000 for traffic police; $50,000 for nurses (3 years of professional nursing experience); $85,000 for psychiatrists; $110,000 for surgeons; $120,000 for pilots; $40,000 for truck drivers; Restaurant waiters and seasonal agricultural workers earn $20,000; senior reporters at the New York Times earn $90,000; the investigator, a reporter with five years of service at the Los Angeles Times, has a basic annual salary of $52,000.

For example, in the teaching profession, the average annual salary of American middle school teachers with 10 years of teaching experience is US$40,000, which is higher than the US$30,000 in Europe. This is precisely because American teachers work nearly more hours than in Europe. 1/3 and hard work.

Washing dishes in a restaurant and running the waiter should be a job with simple technical requirements and easy to get started. However, for such a job, you can earn no less than 15,000 yuan a year in countries such as Europe and the United States. USD earnings (including tips).

In 2004, the legal national minimum wage standard in the United States was US$5.15 per hour. (Shenzhen City, which has the highest standard in my country, implemented the minimum wage standard in the special zone on July 1 this year. 50 cents). In fact, various parts of the United States have their own "local standards." For example, New York State’s minimum wage this year is $6.1 per hour, which will be raised to $6.75 and $7.15 next year and next year respectively.

How poor are the poor in the West?

The original EU definition of "poor people" is that those whose income is less than 60% of the EU's per capita income are classified as "poor". According to this standard, an individual's annual income of less than 9,000 US dollars is classified as poor. The U.S. standard in 2005 is that an annual income of less than $9,570 for a single person, less than $12,830 for a family of two, less than $16,090 for a family of three, less than $19,350 for a family of four, and less than $22,610 for a family of five is considered poverty. family. According to this standard, the number of poor people in the United States has basically remained at around 35 million in recent years.

The United States also has a "low-income" standard. The United States considers families whose income is less than twice the "poverty line" to be low-income families. For example, if the annual income of a family of four is less than US$38,700 this year, it will be classified as a low-income family. This standard affects more than 30 million people. Currently, middle-class families with an annual income of $60,000 to $80,000 account for the majority of the U.S. population.

If we make a simple comparison using the Western "poor standards" and my country's high-income groups, in Shanghai, which ranked first in terms of income in the country in 2004, the average annual income of a family of three was about US$5,700. In other words, a "poor person" in the United States would be considered a wealthy person in China.

Former U.S. President Johnson said in a famous speech "War on Poverty": "What is poverty? Poverty means that you are not waiting in line to pay for things in the supermarket, but in some specific places. Receive free food donated by charities. “The poor in the true sense should refer to those who cannot afford food, clothing and basic shelter.

But what these rich countries call “poor people” today do not know what it means to be “poor”. According to the 2003 Living Conditions Survey Report of the U.S. Poverty Population conducted by USA Today, 73% of the more than 30 million poor people in the United States own a car, and nearly one-third of them own two cars or more; 99% have a refrigerator; 75% use a washing machine; 73% have an electric oven; 97% have a color TV, of which 55% have two or more color TVs. Among these poor people, 46% own their own homes, with the average value exceeding $100,000; 76% of the homes are air-conditioned, and the average home has three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, and a garage. These Western-standard poor people have an "innate" advantage in solving medical problems. They spend more on medical care than those in the middle class and actually enjoy services according to standards. The only reason is that they are "poor"! The poor see a doctor. I won’t pay a single penny, and the government will foot the entire bill.

The more than 50 million wealthy people in the United States hold more than 50% of the wealth in the United States. In the past 20 years, the household income of the bottom 20% of American society has only increased by 6.4%, while the household income of the rich 20% has increased by 7%, and the household income of the top 1% has increased by 184%. In these countries, the racial wealth gap is even more pronounced. The "2005 Status of African Americans" report released by the National Urban League in April this year shows that the current income of African-American families is 1/10 of that of white families.

Having said that, let’s take a look at the situation in China. We are actually still very poor, and there is still a big gap between us and the rich countries in the world. Sun Yat-sen has a famous saying: "The revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades still have to work hard."

Compatriots, work hard, whether it is for the country, ourselves, or the future, we have to work hard and work hard!