<p>To me, the method to get PPP value could be crude. If you're only interested in an iPhone, here's what I would do.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Get the price of an iPhone sold in China (in CNY), divided by the nominal GDP per capita for China (in CNY). You'd get (roughly) the fraction of annual income a Chinese person would need to spend on an iPhone. That should give you an indication of whether that's "cheap" or "expensive"</p></li>
<li><p>To compare across countries, you'd just do the same and see if that fraction is higher (more expensive) or lower (less expensive).</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Keep in mind though that, with existing income inequality, GDP per capita doesn't really tell you about the actual income an average person gets.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-13T16:32:25.310Z
You could address that final concern by using median income.
heh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-13T16:25:16.197Z
2020-02-13T16:25:16.197Z
Art
<p>Which GDP per capita of a Chinese citizen would better reflect their affordability- Nominal GDP per capita or PPP GDP per capita of China? My question is would PPP would matter much in case of buying and selling international goods and services?</p>

<gdp><international-trade><purchasing-power-partity>
If a Chinese person wants to buy an iPhone or any international goods, which GDP per capita would be a better indicator?
Jay
# If a Chinese person wants to buy an iPhone or any international goods, which GDP per capita would be a better indicator?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-02-13)

Which GDP per capita of a Chinese citizen would better reflect their affordability- Nominal GDP per capita or PPP GDP per capita of China? My question is would PPP would matter much in case of buying and selling international goods and services?

**Tags:** gdp, international-trade, purchasing-power-partity

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-02-13. Score: 1

To me, the method to get PPP value could be crude. If you're only interested in an iPhone, here's what I would do.

1. Get the price of an iPhone sold in China (in CNY), divided by the nominal GDP per capita for China (in CNY). You'd get (roughly) the fraction of annual income a Chinese person would need to spend on an iPhone. That should give you an indication of whether that's "cheap" or "expensive"
2. To compare across countries, you'd just do the same and see if that fraction is higher (more expensive) or lower (less expensive).

Keep in mind though that, with existing income inequality, GDP per capita doesn't really tell you about the actual income an average person gets.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: You could address that final concern by using median income.  

---

