I downloaded a good deal of country-level data from the World Bank recently, mostly to better undserstand the countries we’re biking through.
Below is one of the simplest metrics: GDP per capita over the past few decades (measured at exchange rates, in current US dollars). A quick look at this graph tells me the following:
These numbers also explained a bit why this trip is different from my journey from California to Argentina. So far, in Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, we’ve encountered much less abject poverty than I experienced in Latin America. That isn’t to say there isn’t poverty — there is. There’s just less of it. Also, the economies here are growing quickly, which is reflected in the many new buildings, roads, and power plants (especially in Turkey) that we’ve seen.
Below is the graph. For comparison, the GDP per capita in the U.S. is over $50,000 per year.