Fresh research by the International Comparison Program (ICP), coordinated by the World Bank, considered the real cost of living and purchasing power in countries around the world as the best way of comparing the size of different economies.
Using this measure, the ICP concluded that the size of the Chinese economy in 2011 was 87% of the US economy, up from 43% in 2005 when the last comparison was made.
The chinese live on less than 10% a day what we do.
The report found that although high income countries account for half of the world's GDP, they are home to only about 17% of the world's population.
Wrong. In 2008, the current top 3 economies (belonging to China, the U.S., and India) had over 40% of the world’s population (Wiki using US Census bureau data). China (1.333 billion), India (1.14 billion), and the U.S (304 million) total 2.737 billion out of 6.688 billion (40.9%) but only 38.% of world GDP.
World population is growing at 1.2% as of 2011
Originally Posted by Munchmasterman
OK, you are mixing together different statistics when you said "Wrong".
The first statistic was that HIGH-INCOME countriis account of half of GDP, but only 17% of population. "High income" means the income of the average person in those countries. So, the US, England, Germany, etc., are high income countries.
But the second statistic wasn't "high income". It was "TOP ECONOMIES", which refers to the total GDP of ALL the people in each country. So, even though China is a low income per person country, they have SO many people that, collectively, they add up to a larger economy.
So BOTH statistics can be true.
It is entirely possible that high incomes countries (i.e., US, GB, Germany, France, etc.) may have half the GDP, but only 17% of the population, while a different group of countries (the US, China, and India) have 40% of the GDP and 38% of the population.