China vs Malaysia

China's GDP per person at purchasing power parity was $29,333 in 2025, 71% of Malaysia's $41,498, so Malaysia is the richer of the two by this measure. At market exchange rates, GDP per person was $13,862 in China and $13,125 in Malaysia. China ranks 69th and Malaysia 54th of the 186 countries with figures.

Prices across China's economy averaged 149% of Malaysia's in 2025, so $100 spent in China buys about what $66.93 buys in Malaysia, and a dollar goes 49% further in Malaysia. Against the United States, prices averaged 47% of US prices in China and 32% in Malaysia. The World Bank's PPP conversion factor was 3.398 (Chinese yuan) per international dollar in China and 1.355 (Malaysian ringgit) in Malaysia.

In 2025, China's GDP was $19.5 trillion at market exchange rates and $41.3 trillion at PPP; Malaysia's GDP was $472 billion at market exchange rates and $1.49 trillion at PPP. At market rates China's economy is 41 times Malaysia's, and at PPP 28 times. China has 1.41 billion people and Malaysia 36.0 million.

In 2025, gross national income per person by the World Bank's Atlas method was $14,230 in China and $12,380 in Malaysia; at PPP it was $29,160 and $40,070. The World Bank classes both as upper middle income. In household surveys, the median person's income or consumption was $13.45 a day ($4,909 a year) in China, from a 2022 survey of consumption, and $29.55 a day ($10,786 a year) in Malaysia, from a 2021 survey of income, in 2021 international dollars. Income and consumption aren't measured the same way, so compare those two with care.

After inflation, GDP per person at PPP grew 517% in China from 2000 to 2025, 7.5% a year, and grew 91% in Malaysia, 2.6% a year. China's was 22% of Malaysia's in 2000 and 71% in 2025.

A rate that converts money between countries by what it buys rather than by the exchange rate. An international dollar buys in any country what a US dollar buys in the United States. The World Bank's International Comparison Program prices the same goods and services around the world to set these rates, so GDP at PPP compares how much economies actually produce, without exchange rate swings or price gaps.

GDP is the value of everything produced inside a country. GNI, gross national income, adds income residents earn abroad and takes away income sent to foreign owners and workers. They differ most where foreign companies or workers take a large share, as in Ireland or Luxembourg, so GNI per person is closer to what a country's residents earn.

A way of converting GNI to US dollars that averages a country's exchange rate over three years, adjusted for inflation, so one year's currency swing doesn't jump it from one income group to another. The World Bank uses it to sort countries into low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high income each July.

Median income or consumption comes from household surveys, which most countries run every few years and some haven't run in a long time. Many lower-income countries measure what households spend rather than what they earn. This page shows the latest survey from the past 15 years in the World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform, with its year, and says when there isn't one.

From the World Bank's World Development Indicators, last updated October 8, 2026, with figures through 2025, and median income or consumption from its Poverty and Inequality Platform (September 22, 2026 release). Each figure is the latest the World Bank has for that country, from 2015 on; an older one is left out. The IMF publishes its own estimates, which usually differ by a few percent.

No. It's an educational comparison of official statistics. A country's average price level covers its whole economy, so your own costs in either place depend on where you live and what you buy.

• GDP and GNI in US dollars use market exchange rates; at PPP they use the World Bank's purchasing power parities, in international dollars.
• The price level is a country's GDP at market rates divided by its GDP at PPP: its prices against US prices, across the whole economy, not just what households buy. What $100 buys elsewhere is $100 times the ratio of the two price levels.
• GNI per person uses the Atlas method, the measure behind the World Bank's income groups.
• The chart is GDP per person at PPP in constant 2021 international dollars, so it shows growth after inflation.
• Figures: World Development Indicators, updated October 8, 2026; median income or consumption: Poverty and Inequality Platform, September 22, 2026 release. Series: GDP, GDP at PPP, GDP per person at PPP, PPP conversion factor, GNI per person (Atlas), GNI per person at PPP.