Does Russian GDP Rank Higher than China’s GDP?

By some rankings, Russian GDP per capita ranks 62nd in the world while China ranks 73d.

According to World Bank statistics for 2017, Russia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita ranks 62nd in the world.

__ Source

Keep in mind that GDP per capita is an average, and can be skewed by extreme outliers — like most averages. China continues to suffer from extreme poverty among hundreds of millions still living in the countryside. The large mass of poor rural Chinese brings the national average GDP downward.

Both Russia and China are badly fragmented, geographically, in terms of wealth. But looking at raw GDP numbers, China possesses far more wealth than Russia, of a more balanced nature. Russia’s wealth is concentrated in natural resources such as oil & gas, minerals, etc. China’s economy presents a more dynamic and varied picture — and is far more advanced than Russia in the most globally competitive technological fields.

In Fact, the Russian Federation is Under Threat

The unwieldy Russian Federation consists of 85 “federal subjects,” of which 22 are republics representing non-Russian ethnicities, including the North Caucasus and Middle Volga, and numerous regions with distinct identities that feel increasingly estranged from Moscow.

… Pressure is mounting across the country, with growing anger at local governors appointed by the Kremlin and resentment that Moscow appropriates their resources. Indeed, regions such as Sakha and Magadan in the far east, with their substantial mineral wealth, could be successful states without Moscow’s exploitation.

Emerging states will benefit from forging closer economic and political contacts with neighboring countries rather than depending on Moscow, whose federal budget is drastically shrinking.

… To manage the process of dissolution and lessen the likelihood of conflict that spills over state borders, the West needs to establish links with Russia’s diverse regions and promote their peaceful transition toward statehood.

… Some regions could join countries such as Finland, Ukraine, China and Japan, from whom Moscow has forcefully appropriated territories in the past. Other republics in the North Caucasus, Middle Volga, Siberia and the far east could become fully independent states and forge relations with China, Japan, the U.S. and Europe. __ TheHill

What the article excerpted above is saying, is that the Russian Federation is made up of dozens of different regions — and some of them are very interested in the idea of going their own way.

China has its own problems with Xinjiang and Tibet, and certainly Hong Kong is not 100% satisfied with being under the PRC’s iron hand. Yet, China continues plotting to add new unwilling territories — including Taiwan. And China’s OBOR policy of seizing valuable territories from sovereign nations such as Sri Lanka and Kenya speaks very badly of the dragon’s running dog imperialist policies under Xi. The OBOR debt slavery adventure is just getting started!

And so we have two dictatorships — Russia ranked 62 in the world, and China ranked 73. Both despotic regimes feel centrifugal forces tugging at their imperial territories, which are likely to grow much stronger in the near future.

Russia is already at war with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and other nations and territories — in a vain attempt to rebuild the lost empire of the Tsars and the Soviets. China is engaged in border disputes with several neighbors, “internal” disputes in Xinjiang and Tibet, and is planning a war with Taiwan. China is also at war with international laws of the sea in its attempts to obstruct free navigation in international waters in the China Seas.

Two unpopular and not-so-wealthy nations (in per capita terms), arming for wars that they cannot afford. In China’s case, it is using economic policy to forcibly seize property from sovereign nations thousands of miles from China’s borders. This will not end well.

Plan for turbulence ahead. Be competent, and very Dangerous. And be resourceful, and versatile. The malevolence in the world is not confined to rogue nations on the far side of the world.

Note: I would prefer that no one refer to the nonsensical number GDP PPP in comments. There are an infinite number of ways that GDP PPP can be calculated, none of them particularly useful in the real world. To understand how corrupt a misconception GDP PPP is, one would have to have spent very little time in fantasyland (universities, government, media, economics, philosophy, liberal arts, etc.) and most of his time in the rough and tumble real world.