AS RICH AS A GAZAN

This year, with an alleged "cost of living crisis" going on in 
Australia (though I think that's mostly about people with 
morgages), there have been a few news stories on TV about poorer 
countries that are still rich enough that an Australian might want 
to move there. Particularly where there's a shrinking population 
and therefore a cheap housing market. Japan gets a lot of attention 
and there was a story about rural Spain [EDIT: actually, that was
Italy] as well.

This got me back to one of my usual puzzlements about money. I know 
I'm poor in Australia, but where would I be average, or even rich? 
Well this internet thing that I currently spend around $5/month of 
that income on is perfect for answering these sorts of questions. 
Sure enough here's the World Bank's obscurely-titled list including 
countries by income groups:

https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups

Converted to the universal courrency of the world's biggest 
"high-income economy", although Australia is one of those too, my 
personal income falls short and into "upper-middle-income". This is 
a list including some countries where I thought people were 
actually a lot poorer, though I'm sure some suffer from major 
income inequality (although that's coming from someone earning 
under $13,845USD/year in a country with an average figure found 
elsewhere of $60,840USD/year). Among other nationalities, I'm as 
rich as a Armenian, a Chinaman (but not in Hong Kong), a Cuban, an 
Iraqi, a Lybian, a Russian, a Thai, a South African, or even a 
Gazan! I guess that last one is probably due for an update, but 
even before the current conflict that's a surprisingly high income 
in a politically isolated nation full of palestinian refugees.

So there you go, move to one of those countries and I might be able 
to understand how I actually survive on my income while worrying 
mainly just about maintaining it at that level (unfortunately a 
concern that's frequently and currently raised). But hey, where 
would I be rich? Where's the lower income nation that's equivalent 
for me to what Japan ($42,550USD/year) or Spain ($32,090USD/year) 
is for my rich average countrymen? Hmm, "lower-middle income": 
India, Algeria, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Lebanon, Mongolia, Ukraine, 
Vietnam, Zimbabwe... Meh, no thanks.

 - The Free Thinker