Student Essay on China Vs Russia

China Vs Russia

Essay

In comparing the productivity of the Chinese and Russian governments in leading their people towards economic prosperity from the years 1982-2001, two key things can be noticed. First, Russia was a far more prosperous nation in 1982, and still is today. Secondly, China has improved its standing from year to year, while Russia has fluctuated, only showing minimal improvement in the past few years. For example, the GDP growth % of China has been positive every year, while Russia's has been lower than China's every year but 2000 (and some years it's even been negative). Russia's only edge (based on actual number and yearly improvement) is in GINI, if one views a greater equality of wealth among the people as being positive. Overall I would say from this information that the Chinese government has been more successful in economic prosperity, showing consistent signs of improvement such that in another decade they could equal or surpass Russia's economic advantage in every category.

Notes: There are two HDI graphs because the information I acquired showed variation (except in 2001), though the trends in both are fairly similar. The GINI index information (found up to 1999) did not make much sense except for the possible explanation that it wasn't collected every year; however it was consistent with information collected by other students I talked to.