China's home ownership is much higher than in the US at 93%. So when I said anyone in major Chinese cities, it means hundreds of million people. There was a statistics published by Chinese gov few years ago, average household wealth in the city is about 470K RMB, roughly $80K. No as high as US, of course, but the difference is not by the order of magnitude. And that was few years ago.
Again, that's different.
The problem is that you did not factor in anything and simply compare the raw data one on one. It cannot and will not represent the real situation because the data have no relationship with each other. Even when you compare between Home Ownership for the 2 countries?
Simple question which can impact the interpretation of the data. Question such as
The definition of Home Ownership,
The average price of a Home in China and US
The percentage of urban, suburban, rural population in the US and China
The problem is, the currency itself is also a question. In the US, if the average household wealth is 80k, then you are probably below poverty line. But in China, 80,000 USD per family would lead you an average to middle class life. Of course, 80k wealth would not be enough for you to live in the major City in China, but 80K in US for a family would not be enough to live ANYWHERE.
As I said, it's of no point to compare raw data one on one.
I am not here to discuss wealth distribution of two societies. I am just saying my very subjective personal point of view. Being getting well about average income in the US, I felt like a cheapskate there. Have you been to China, by the way?
That's have something to do with your own expenditure and the way you spend your money.
Are you alone in the US? Your family does not have properties in the US? Or there are no one you can rely on in the US? Having family properties would basically save you up more than half your expenditure. I used to live with my family in the US, I don't need to pay rent, I don't need to pay for groceries, that's why if I earn way below par, I still lead a good life. I earn about 50,000 USD per year with the US Army, the only expense is 12,000 a year to my mum back in 2004/2005. After Tax and other small expenditure, I have about 20,000 USD saved up every year. (I got around 34,000 USD after tax)
Then I move to England for 2 years, I earn about 70,000 GBP a year working in private sector (About 106,000 USD). Well above what the average British Earn, then I need to pay rent which is about 300 quid per week in greater London (That's 18000 GBP there), and then food and transport cost me another ~100 pounds per week, that's 6,000 a year, and then you have all sort of expense, such as medical insurance. Home insurance (which I don't need to pay before), council bill, water, electric, phone, internet etc. That's another 5,000 a year. After tax, I got about 45,000 GBP left, after lodging, I got about 27,000 GBP left, and after weekly expenses, I got about 12,000 GBP left. Which is about 16,000 USD. Even tho I earn 2.5 times more then before, I have less money saved up....My colleague, earn a bit less than me, drive an Aston Martin...... I drove a Honda Civic....
And by the way, my family have a 3 story house in Dongguan, and I used to live there when I was a kid and studying middle school in Shenzhen
