On a Per-Capita Basis, China's GDP = U.S. in 1878 There have
been reports lately like this one that predict that the U.S.
will be the third largest economy by 2050, after falling behind
China's GDP in 2020 and India's by 2050. But of course one of
the main reasons for the rise in economic output for China and
India will be because their populations are so much larger than
the U.S. (China: 1.3 billion and India: 1.15 billion). The chart
above shows real GDP on a per capita basis for the U.S. from
1800 to 1880 (data from Global Financial Data), and for China
from 1969 to 2010. Bottom Line: While China's exponential
economic growth over the last 40 years is pretty impressive,
from wretched, abject poverty and only $128 of per capita real
GDP in 1969, to per-capita output of $2,800 in 2010, China's
economic output on a per capita basis is still about the same as
the U.S. in 1878 ($2,800), 132 years ago.