Hypotheticals:
1st world
– you’re born in the 1st world country of your choosing
– you live in the suburbs, but not in a gated community
– parents can afford to co-fund your college but you’ll still pay for most of it
3rd world
– born in either the Philippines or India
– parents are in politics (practically untouchable and you can do whatever you want)
– You are not allowed to migrate BUT you can study abroad
– allowed to travel but not migrate
Comments
Copy of the original post in case of edits: Hypotheticals:
1st world
3rd world
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Philippines. I like the food better.
Nice try. Middle class in a first world country is high class in a third world country.
Rich in a poor country offers you a higher standard of living. Unless you get kidnapped or something.
Rich in a 3rd world country. There are parts of the Philippines that feel like a 1st world country.
A rich in third world country is far better be a wage slave in a 1st world country. The purchasing power is 3-5 times higher
I would go with rich in the third world.
I think I’d go middle class in the first world if the 3rd world countries you picked were like Somalia where Im guessing they don’t have first world lifestyles for the rich. India or the Philippines will have all the first world amenities for the rich.
1st world middle-class. Haven’t decided on the country yet, maybe Norway or New Zealand. If my parents were rich politicians in the Philippines it would suggest they’re corrupt af. No thanks.
How rich are we talking? Like Mukush Ambani rich? Or just richer than most of the country?
I know a decent number of people living each of those scenarios.
The ones who are in wealthy families in the “third world” live way, way, way better. Comforts and luxuries you couldn’t imagine, everything in their lives taken care of so that they can excel at absolutely anything they want with no distractions whatsoever. Grad school? Wherever you like. Want to start a business? You’ve got a limitless bank account to draw on to fund it.
And if they don’t excel, if they’re absolute failures at their chosen endeavour, it kinda doesn’t matter.
Their lives have no problems.
And none of them has ever been kidnapped or anything like that.
I’d swap into their shoes in a second.
I already live in a third world country, so I will just become rich.
Come on, give me the money.
Rich in a third world country and just travel a lot if I don’t like it there.
Depends on how rich is rich. But if I don’t ever need to work again and travel 24/7, hell yea.
But I’ll never move or live in India. Give me another country instead
3rd easy. I can’t migrate, but I can effectively live outside the country via travel anyway.
Switzerland is a third world country so I would be rich in Switzerland
Being rich in a place like Makati City would be amazing
1st world, no question. Safety, creature comforts, etc., etc.
3rd world. Just for that fully paid education
The dream at this point is to get enough money to retire in a third world country because i cant afford to live in the first world country lol
Rich in a 3rd world country.
I guess I would be Raj from The Big Bang Theory. I might be a little miffed though when Daddy buys me a starter Mercedes…
I think the residents of those nations might like a word with you for calling them “Third world”
The normal way this thought experiment is stated is “middle class in SoCal or a king in the 1600’s”. You will have more wealth but fewer opportunities or less wealth but more comfort.
Option 2.
Being rich in India is far better than being middle class in the USA. I can stay most of my months in a developed country anyways.
1st and 3rd world countries where originally used to describe sides in the cold war.
1st world, America and there allies
2nd world USSR and there allies
3rd Everyone else.
Rich in a third world country.
You think if you have parents in politics you are untouchable? To the law maybe. But not to your parents. Still so many societal rules and expectations. And if you are in the middle class in a 1st world country you can still move up and you have more freedom. I’d rather make my own money and live life on my terms.
Rich in a 3rd world country.
Phillipines. Dumb wealthy. Spicy food. Travel abroad. Women and cars.
Middle class.
If it was just a normal rich in 3rd world, middle class in 1st world would have been better, but a ‘parents are in politics’ rich in 3rd world? That’s a no brainer pick.
Rich in 3rd world, 1000%
Rich in 3rd world country.
Middle class in a first world country. I actually get to literally see this because I’m middle class in a first world country and my family is pretty rich in a third world country and our lifestyles are comparable materially but I get the benefits of living in a first world country.
Now if I were like ultra wealthy? Sure OK I’ll choose that but just being rich? Nah.
I’ve been both (well, obviously not fitting these exact scenarios, but I’ve been middle class, closer to poor, in a developed country, and relatively well off in a less developed country).
To answer your surface level question, being well off in a developing country is quite nice, depending on the country. I like it quite a bit more than when I was on the poor side of middle class in a developed country.
But then you had to go and add depth… I know people who are stuck in the country I live in, actually for the exact reasons you specified. They desperately want to leave. Not even because it’s bad here, but just knowing they can never leave is so demoralizing for them. Especially because they can travel and see other places, and they have the means, but they just aren’t allowed to. In some ways that’s more frustrating than simply not having the means to leave.
I guess, even with the added depth, I’d choose rich in a less developed country. Most of the issues that the general population faces as a result of being in a less developed country simply don’t apply to you when you are rich.
Rich in 3rd world but very high chance your money came from illegal/morally wrong means . So this is a money vs morals thing
This makes literally no sense without numbers…
Rich is a very vague concept when used like you use it here.
With $2000/month I’d be rich in India (average salary $422).
If this is not the kind of rich you mean, and you mean like $100k/month, then I’d rather have that than be middle class in the developed world, for sure.
It’s literally a scale based on the exact number you mean…
I’ve seen Indian billionaires. They’re stupidly rich.
Rich in the 3rd.
Every time.
Rich in a 3rd world country so I can grow up to be a dictator. Or president of the US
Real first world countries have affordable college.
If you look at the rich areas of a lot of poor countries, they look very similar to rich areas in rich countries. Everything you expect is still available.
It falls off fast as you go down the income ladder, but being rich in a poor country often isn’t bad at all.