Two ways of looking at carbon emissions and other data

While clicking around on Wikipedia recently, I came across two maps on global CO2 emissions.


Total CO2 emissions (the developed countries and the rapidly developing economies of Russia, India, and China are the biggest emitters).
CO2 emissions per capita (the U.S., Australia, and the Persian Gulf states are the dirtiest).


This reminded me of a Chinese news article (English translation) that compared the economic consumption levels of the United States and China, adjusted to the population size. The conclusion: “the consumption of China’s 1.3 billion people is only equivalent to a population of 43 million Americans.”

This number is reached by comparing consumption levels, in US dollars, per person in the two countries.

“In 2006, US per capita income was $36,000 and total consumption was nine trillion dollars. The US has a population of 300 million so per capita consumption was $30,000. In 2006, China’s per capita income was $2,000 and its consumption rate was 51%. Thus, per capita consumption was $1,000 or 1/30th of the US per capita consumption. If you divide 1.3 billion by 30, the consumption of China’s 1.3 billion people is only equivalent to a population of 43 million Americans.”

It’s worth noting that consumption levels measured in dollars are considerably skewed by purchasing power and exchange rates. One dollar buys 6.8 yuan at official exchange rates, yet the yuan is undervalued by 15-20% due to government capital controls, and a dollar buys a lot more (2-4 times as much for most goods and services) in China than in the United States because of the lower cost of living.

It all goes to show how data can be selectively chosen and tinkered with to produce very different conclusions. It’s also a reminder that absolute size is not everything, instead the relative amount (or per capita value) is more relevant, especially when comparing among countries. China is the world’s largest source of C02 emissions, yet the average person consumes 1/30th of the average American’s consumption level. The United States is 5% of the world’s population, yet we consume 25% of the world’s energy.