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No. Sweden ranks above the U.S. on 2 of the 3 lists on this page, and as it explains, a more sensible list would be based on PPP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

by beefman 16y ago

No. Sweden ranks above the U.S. on 2 of the 3 lists on this page, and as it explains, a more sensible list would be based on PPP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP... Here, Sweden is above the U.S. on 0 out of 3 lists. Perhaps an even better list is PPP per hour worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_hour_worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP... Sweden is below the U.S. on 1 of 1 lists. Perhaps an even more sensible list would be one showing U.S. States individually, since EU nations are generally comparable in size and population to individual States. As of 2009, only Luxembourg and the UAE exceeded Connecticut in PPP GDP/capita (only the former exceeded the District of Columbia). Luxembourg is a tax haven, and the UAE is an oil nation.

david927 16y ago
Sweden ranks above the US on the most current list on that page. The other two lists are older data. Also, size and population don't figure in to the comparison. You have to divide by population or the result is that the richest countries are countries like China and India, and the poorest are countries like Monaco and Luxembourg. And that's silly. If you can choose portions of countries, such as a state, it's too hard not to cherry-pick. PPP seems like a good idea. It was devised to reflect that ten dollar buys a giant meal in Kiev but barely a BigMac in Zurich. But once you research it you'll find PPP seems specifically formulated to make Americans feel better about themselves. The basket of goods used to compose PPP is so American-centric that instead of de-skewing the results, it skews them further. The result is a joke. But to be fair, it's easy to agree to disagree on this. Which country is richer is impossible to quantify in a meaningful way because it has to take into account quality of life, and being qualitative, will change per person.
- beefman 16y ago
  >You have to divide by population All the comparisons I mentioned do. >once you research it you'll find PPP seems specifically formulated to make Americans feel better about themselves Oh? >Which country is richer is impossible to quantify in a meaningful way because it has to take into account quality of life, and being qualitative, will change per person. I was responding to your post, in which you asserted that Sweden is richer.

by beefman 16y ago

david927 16y ago

Sweden ranks above the US on the most current list on that page. The other two lists are older data. Also, size and population don't figure in to the comparison. You have to divide by population or the result is that the richest countries are countries like China and India, and the poorest are countries like Monaco and Luxembourg. And that's silly. If you can choose portions of countries, such as a state, it's too hard not to cherry-pick. PPP seems like a good idea. It was devised to reflect that ten dollar buys a giant meal in Kiev but barely a BigMac in Zurich. But once you research it you'll find PPP seems specifically formulated to make Americans feel better about themselves. The basket of goods used to compose PPP is so American-centric that instead of de-skewing the results, it skews them further. The result is a joke. But to be fair, it's easy to agree to disagree on this. Which country is richer is impossible to quantify in a meaningful way because it has to take into account quality of life, and being qualitative, will change per person.

beefman 16y ago
>You have to divide by population All the comparisons I mentioned do. >once you research it you'll find PPP seems specifically formulated to make Americans feel better about themselves Oh? >Which country is richer is impossible to quantify in a meaningful way because it has to take into account quality of life, and being qualitative, will change per person. I was responding to your post, in which you asserted that Sweden is richer.