[bruce511]

It is hard to compare one country to another because they are different in so many ways. Each has positives and negatives.

Clearly the USA and Bangladesh are different. Comparing their GDP is simplistic and doesn't really speak to quality of life in either place. Much less does it take into account that two people in each country may in turn have vastly different quality of lives.

In short, using national statistics tells us very little about your life, or my life, or any specific persons life.

[nosefurhairdo]

The person I responded to (correctly) criticized per capita GDP, citing differences in cost of living. I felt that referencing PPP would be helpful since it attempts to factor in cost of living differences.

I'm not sure this "comparisons are hard" speech is adding much. Differences in wealth are real, measurable, and meaningful, even if they can't be boiled down to a single number. Obviously there are other factors to quality of life; nobody here stated anything to the contrary.