China revises 2007 growth from 11.9% to 13%

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-14 17:24

China might have a big economy, but it is still a relatively poor country. On the Atlas methodology, the United States had income per head of $46,040 in 2007, while China's was just $2,360 with an estimated population of 1.3 billion.

A Chinese man on his bicycle passes a construction building at a pedestrian bridge in Beijing, China, Jan. 5, 2009. China on Wednesday revised up the country's gross domestic product growth for 2007 to 13.0 percent from 11.9 percent. [Agencies]

Before the latest revisions, the World Bank put it in 132nd place in its global income tables per capita.

Taking account of Wednesday's revision leaves China slightly better off than Cape Verde but poorer than Guatemala.

The World Bank argues that measuring the value of output using purchasing power parity, rather than market exchange rates, provides a better measure of relative standards of living.

By this yardstick, too, China is still poor, with per capita income in 2007, prior to the latest revisions, of $5,370 compared with $45,850 in the United States.

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