5 ms·

200 years ago,which country had best quality of life for the average person?

7 points by vinnyglennon 4y ago

Someone 4y ago
Most likely a small country, population-wise. That’s where you expect the statistical outliers. Looking at some currently rich small countries, I think Monaco wasn’t independent yet, but the Papal States were. They had been occupied by French troops recently, but I think they’re a strong candidate because of the money flowing into it from Catholic Churches around the world. However, it’s quite possible that another small country elsewhere beats it. I wouldn’t know much about the kingdom of Hawaii, for example, or of Singapore (which was somewhat independent. It became a British colony in 1824), and there probably where small countries I didn’t think of (Italy was quite divided, for example)
- yuppie_scum 4y ago
  Luxembourg?
  - Someone 4y ago
    I wouldn’t know whether it was wealthy at the time. It also was a lot larger than it is today (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Luxembourg#Third_Partition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Luxembourg#Third...: “The territory ceded to Belgium was 4,730 km2 (1,830 sq mi), or 65% of the territory of the Grand Duchy at the time. The population of this territory was 175,000: half of Luxembourg's total population”) Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_1815_map_en.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_1815_map_en.png, the Papal States were a lot larger in 1815 than I envisioned, though, so yes, Luxembourg or San Marino or something else tiny probably would be the ‘winner’.
LunarAurora 4y ago
When I first saw your question, I guessed it was the Netherlands, and it is indeed the first according to these estimates [1] However, The problem is that outside western Europe and the US (and even within them to a large extent) : - "Countries", as we know them today, were not the default mode in 1820. It would be interesting to compare this list [2] to today. - "Middle Class", as it defines the average person today, was almost non-existent by then (a minority at best). So, I suppose there was a large difference between the mean (average) and the median. The average loses its real value as indicator. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_entities_in_the_19th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_entities_in_...
jesuscript 4y ago
1823? Hmmm. England had the highest GDP around that time.

7 points by vinnyglennon 4y ago

Most likely a small country, population-wise. That’s where you expect the statistical outliers. Looking at some currently rich small countries, I think Monaco wasn’t independent yet, but the Papal States were. They had been occupied by French troops recently, but I think they’re a strong candidate because of the money flowing into it from Catholic Churches around the world. However, it’s quite possible that another small country elsewhere beats it. I wouldn’t know much about the kingdom of Hawaii, for example, or of Singapore (which was somewhat independent. It became a British colony in 1824), and there probably where small countries I didn’t think of (Italy was quite divided, for example)

yuppie_scum 4y ago
Luxembourg?
- Someone 4y ago
  I wouldn’t know whether it was wealthy at the time. It also was a lot larger than it is today (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Luxembourg#Third_Partition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Luxembourg#Third...: “The territory ceded to Belgium was 4,730 km2 (1,830 sq mi), or 65% of the territory of the Grand Duchy at the time. The population of this territory was 175,000: half of Luxembourg's total population”) Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_1815_map_en.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_1815_map_en.png, the Papal States were a lot larger in 1815 than I envisioned, though, so yes, Luxembourg or San Marino or something else tiny probably would be the ‘winner’.

LunarAurora 4y ago

When I first saw your question, I guessed it was the Netherlands, and it is indeed the first according to these estimates [1] However, The problem is that outside western Europe and the US (and even within them to a large extent) : - "Countries", as we know them today, were not the default mode in 1820. It would be interesting to compare this list [2] to today. - "Middle Class", as it defines the average person today, was almost non-existent by then (a minority at best). So, I suppose there was a large difference between the mean (average) and the median. The average loses its real value as indicator. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_entities_in_the_19th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_entities_in_...

jesuscript 4y ago

1823? Hmmm. England had the highest GDP around that time.