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 outs

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_...