THE GRAPH

THE PARAGRAPH

Last week the five members of the Tongs family made our special weekday ice-cream run to Toby’s, our neighborhood creamery, to celebrate my daughter Audrey’s adoption anniversary. Eight years ago, we picked her up from Hunan, China; she now rules the universe from Arlington, Virginia. On these days, my wife Cathy and I wonder out loud what Audrey’s life might have been. America pessimists – who seem in extraordinary supply of late — might surmise China is the better place for her. After all, their economy is catching up to ours! In this moment of hyperventilation, let’s recall the importance of the denominator. Even if you prefer a prism of us versus them, the Chinese have four times as many mouths to feed. The World Bank chart above shows China’s income per person, compared to the world average and the U.S. (great big nerd alert: the graph shows GDP per capita, PPP, current international $).