It's based on purchasing power parity[1] and is adjusted for inflation, not absolute USD in a given year. > a huge amount is going to be due to 1+ billion Chin

It's based on purchasing power parity[1] and is adjusted for inflation, not absolute USD in a given year. > a huge amount is going to be due to 1+ billion Chinese people increasing their quality of life - but is that really due to capitalism? Almost all of that happened after Deng's market reforms with the bulk of the decline after 1995[2], so yes. The top 10 provinces in GDP per capita are all SEZs where China liberalized markets and trade. There are plenty of critiques of capitalism that are interesting and valid, but it is great for creating wealth and surplus goods/services. And that's exactly how you lift people out of extreme poverty. The Baumol effect, access to markets, and access to capital investment all break people out of subsistence. [1] https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/114944-what-is-an-international-dollar#:~:text=An%20international%20dollar%20would%20buy,Power%20Parity%20(PPP)%20data https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/11.... [2] https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty