Roman Empire per capita GDP shows the Romans were poorer than any 2015 country
This is common to all periods of the past: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P...</a><p>Today, we take for granted that the production of each individual is greatly improved by machinery. We own multiple items of clothing, eat a varied diet, and live in homes of concrete heated and cooled by electricity. And this description applies to upcoming economies like Ukraine.<p>If you take the example of what a feudal Russian lived in the 1700, many built their own homes out of wood using an axe and wood from the forest, they would buy fabric and furs but had to make and mend their own clothes, they would hunt and work the land of their lord for sustinence. Their diet was restricted to seasons and death by famine and disease was rampant. The few coins they could accumulate went towards the purchase of must haves (metal tools, basic textiles, a furnace, and luxuries like animals). In winter, they would sleep on top of their furnace for heat, and their home was filled with smoke.<p>Urban centres were no different. The 1000sqft apartments we have today are 5-10x the size of dwellings in London or Paris during the same period. You can see this visiting the ruins of Rome too.<p>Life was tough but we forget how tough it was because most of us idealize the simpler times of the past.