Four decades of strong economic growth has helped China become the world's second largest economy. But things aren't as good as often described in social media. China is still a "poor" country, at least according to a number of broadly used measures of the quantity and quality of life, and potential to make the Great Leap Forward to the status of a developed country.
Take China's per capital GDP, for example. It stood at U.S.$6894.50 in 2016 -- 55% below the world's average,
according to Tradingeconomics.com.
Still, China's per capita GDP is close to 600% above its all time low of 132 USD in 1962. This means that the welfare of the average Chinese citizen is up enormously from the 1962 low. And part of the credit should go to the open minded leadership of the country over the last four decades.
China’s Key Metrics
Metric Value
Per Capita GDP $6984*
Per Capita GDP PPP 14401*
GDP Annual Growth Rate 6.9%
Unemployment Rate 3.95%
*2016
Source: Tradingeconomics.com 8/29/17
That certainly doesn't feel like being poor any longer. Especially for those who live in the Southeast regions and benefited the most from the openness of China economy.
Then there's corruption, where China ranks near other poor countries like India and Pakistan, and nowhere near rich countries like the U.S.
Corruption leads to cronyism that kills competition, innovation, and enriches the economic elites at the expense of the masses. The fact that this is certainly not good for China’s future growth is no further away than the performance of other emerging market economies like Argentina, which has been bouncing back and forth between the “emerging” and the “frontier” status, never managing to join the ranks of developed nations.
Country Corruption Index in 2010 Corruption Index in 2015
China 78/168 83/168
Hong Kong 13 17
Pakistan 143 117
India 87 76
Finland 4 2
USA 22 16
Source: Transparency International
Then there's pollution.China is the
world’s top producer of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas - a status that isn’t expected to change any time soon, as China’s government is part of the problem rather than the solution.
Pollution undermines the quality of everyday life and the value of the country’s assets, like real estate. If pollution continues at the same rate in China, that may be worthless one day. Younger generations will opt to leave the country rather than move into polluted cities, depressing demand for real estate, aggravating the problem of excess capacity in the sector, and tapering economic growth.
The bottom line: China has come long way from an underdeveloped into an emerging economy, beating Japan to become the world’s second largest economy. But it has long way to go—both in terms of quantity and quality of life—before it makes the Great Leap Forward to take its place as one of the rich countries of the world.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2017/09/02/china-is-still-a-poor-country/
