How poor Cambodians really are?

According to the GDP records, Cambodia ranks in the lowest positions of annual income per capita (133rd) . At the first sight, that seems to be the case. Very poor houses, barefoot children running on the streets, no infrastructures etc...

But how much does this affect the life of the people and how difficult is it to live with $1-$2 per day?

It seems that the GDP is not analogical to the quality of life of the people. Living in the rural Cambodia, you realize that people look happy and enjoy their lives peacefully despite their poorness.

But how poor Cambodians really are? The GDP takes into consideration only the official income of the people and not all the informal activities of the people. Rural Cambodians, aside to their jobs grow multiple, small crops of mangos, bananas and other fruits, of which the overplus is for sale out of the door of their houses. Furthermore, most of the houses feed some chickens. If you consider that the price of the chicken in Phnom Pehn is 20.000Riehls per kilo ($5 dollars/Kg), then this means that the people have some dollars running and clucking on the street. Moreover, the strong bonds between the members of a Cambodian family, play also a significant role. More affluent family members take care of the less affluent, and provide them systematically with food and all the necessities. The same seems to happen, to some extent, also in the society. Neighbors and friends exchange or gift food to the poor ones.



Concluding, in a few words we could say that although GDP can be an indication of the wealth of a country, it is not that accurate and should not somebody heavily rely on it...In the end quality of life can not be quantified into some indexes...