>I don't know about Chinese, but Russians live considerably better
>than one would think they do looking at the official stats, as I
>have stated before, which makes me leery of them. (Shadow economy,
>fake taxes, lots of stuff almost free, no rent, free summer house,
>stuff like that.)
The WB has Russia at 23% of US per capita GDP on a PPP basis, or around $8,200/yr - but on a market exchange basis, about 10%.
Doug