Would you rather be rich in a poor country, or poor in a rich country?

你愿意在穷国当富人还是在富国当穷人？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Eva Terry

A few months ago an Uber driver drove me home from the airport. He was an African immigrant in his 50s.

He told me that he used to own a mine. But his “friend” in the government betrayed him by stealing his mine.

He immigrated to the US and his whole family live here now. His sons are developers for local tech companies. My guess is that they live very comfortable lives. They are not rich.

My Grandpa Don used to say, “poor folks have poor ways.”

几个月前，一位优步司机把我从机场送回家。他是一个50来岁的非洲移民。

他告诉我他曾经拥有一座矿山。但他在政府工作的“朋友”背叛了他，抢走了他的矿。

他移民到了美国，现在全家都住在这里。他的几个儿子都是当地科技公司的开发人员。我猜他们的日子过得不错，虽然还算不上富裕。

我爷爷过去常说：“穷人有穷人的活法。”

Poor countries are poor for non-financial reasons.

Things like corruption, war, dic ship, and poverty-inducing cultural norms cause poverty.

The rule of law is one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind. Many countries still don’t respect it.

I would rather be a poor person in a rich country - any day of the week.

You could be a rich person in a poor country one minute, then the government comes along and takes all of your stuff.

贫穷国家之所以穷，不是因为财政方面的原因。

腐败、战争、独才和导致贫困的文化等因素导致了他们的贫困。

法治是人类最伟大的成就之一。但至今仍有许多国家不尊重法治。

我宁愿在富国做一个穷人。

你是可以在穷国当个耀眼的富人，但是不出多久政府就会出面夺走你所有的东西。

Venezuela, anyone?

American and European expats love to live in poor countries in Latin America and Asia because, by comparison, they can live a wealthy lifestyle.

But at the first sign of trouble they can leave the country and go back to their rich country of origin. So in my opinion that doesn’t count.

I would love to go spend some time in Mexco, Brazil, Thailand, and other places like that. But there is no way that I would move my wife and kids there permanently.

委内瑞拉，都听说过吗？

美国和欧洲人都喜欢去拉丁美洲和亚洲的贫穷国家定居，因为相比之下，他们可以过上富裕的生活。

但一旦有什么麻烦，他们可以随时离开，回到他们富裕的祖国。所以在我看来，这种人并不算数。

我自己也很想去墨西哥、巴西、泰国等地方待一段时间。但我不可能让妻子和孩子也搬到那里去定居。

Having rights, decent schools, a community with common values, and not worrying about getting mugged are way too important to me.

Poor people in rich countries can change their station in life.

Rich people in foreign countries can have everything taken away by the government at the drop of the hat. That’s why they tend to invest much of their wealth abroad, so that it’s somewhere where their government can’t touch it.

拥有权利、体面的学校、有共同价值观的社区、不用担心被抢劫，这些对我来说都非常重要。

富裕国家的穷人可以改变他们的生活状况。

在异乡生活的富人随时可能被政府拿走一切，所以他们更愿意把大部分财富投资到国外，这样政府就无法染指这些财富。

Laurie Caldwell

This question would be better if it were, “Would you rather be rich in the POOREST country or poor in the RICHEST country?”

Simply any “poor” country could be, say, Mexco, and living as a rich person there is quite pleasant. You can have a nice car, get cable TV, eat at fine restaurants, shop in malls — and average people won’t begrudge you much for it.

如果把这个问题调整一下就更合理了：“你愿意在最贫穷的国家当个富人还是在最富裕的国家当个穷人？”

简单而言，富人在墨西哥等穷国的生活是十分惬意的。你可以拥有一辆好车，有线电视，去高级餐厅用餐，在商场购物—普通民众也不会因此而嫉妒你。

But if you’re talking extremely poor countries, like Yemen, the Congo or Haiti, your life may be in danger and basic amenities like getting decent Internet and TV and clean water and roads that are well paved may be hard to come by. And it’s really disheartening looking at extreme poverty whenever you venture out. You’d probably need armed guards, have private tutors for your kids and worry about juntas. Women wouldn’t have basic rights, and there wouldn’t be much of an arts scene. There’d be few like-minded people to talk to.

但如果你说的是极端贫穷的国家，比如也门、刚果或海地，你的生活可能就会处于危险之中，基本的生活设施，比如像样的互联网和电视、清洁的水源和平整的道路可能都很难实现。每次外出看到触目惊心的贫困，真的会让人心情低落。你可能还需要武装警卫，为你的孩子聘请家教，担心军政府的举动。妇女没有基本的权利，也不会有太多的艺术氛围。你可能找不到可以交谈的志同道合的人。

But being poor in a rich country is fine — you can go to free museums, have a smart phone, get 200 TV channels, libraries, relative safety, etc. You may not have a Rolls Royce, but you can pick up some junker car and drive the same highways as the rich and famous.

So, ultimately — depends. I’d rather be rich in Mexco than poor in the USA or Western Europe, but I wouldn’t want to live in certain countries because, even if wealthy, I’d have to give up some basic rights and freedoms.

但在一个富裕的国家里，贫穷的生活也没有那么难熬—你可以去免费的博物馆，拥有智能手机，有200个电视频道，图书馆和人身安全等等。你也许不能拥有劳斯莱斯，但你可以开着破车，和富人、名人行驶在同样的公路上。

所以，这要视情况而定。我自己是宁愿在墨西哥当个富人，也不愿在美国或西欧当个穷人，但有一些国家是我不想去定居的，因为在那里，就算我有钱，我也必须放弃一些基本的权利和自由。

Colleen Robinson

This isn’t much of a fair question any more.

There once was a time when “to have access to it all” you basically needed to live in the US or one of its near friends (Canada or Australia followed to a lesser degree by Western Europe). But that long since ended by the end of the 90s. Today, in a number of niche fields (software development, acting, certain sports), all paths still lead to the US. Outside of a few things, you can get whatever you want in a “poor” country.

这个问题不太公平。

曾经有一段时间，“要想获得一切”，你需要住在美国或盟国(加拿大或澳大利亚，西欧紧随其后)。但这种局面在90年代末就已经结束了。现在，虽然在许多领域(软件开发、演艺、某些体育项目)还是唯美国马首是瞻，但除此之外，你可以在“贫穷”国家找到你想要的一切。

Why?

Because you never defined poor. Mexco is rich by global standards. Mexco is poor by American. I could move to Mexco and get a 10x increase in my spending power. If my husband gets a digital job, that’s exactly what we’re gonna do for a year. So, the answer seems clear, depending on your attachments and if you have the ability to go, being a rich person in a poor country really works out.

为什么呢？

因为你从未定义过什么是贫困。按照全球标准，墨西哥是富裕的，但若按美国人的标准，墨西哥是贫困的。那我大可以去墨西哥生活，让我的消费能力提升10倍。如果我丈夫能找一份线上工作，我们就打算去墨西哥生活一年。因此，这个问题的答案似乎很明确，这要取决于你自己，如果你有能力，在穷国当富人真的很不错。

Angelito Aseneta Jr.

If say at the end of the day wealth is a matter of perspective and strategy on how to save more than what you earn; live in a place where you dont feel as if you wanna escape from it, that is real wealth.

Most people ive met coming from the wealthiest nations in the world have financial horror stories which wouldve had been easily prevented if they chose to improve their perspective and goals in life.

如果说到底，财富是一个关于如何让储蓄超过收入的观点和行动的问题；住在一个你压根不想逃离的地方，那才是真正的财富。

我遇到的大多数来自全球最富裕国家的人都经历过金融恐怖故事，如果他们提高自己的人生观和生活目标，这些经济损失本来是很容易避免的。

A few example is an expat migrating to a third world country to escape their ever increasing student and creditcard debt from their homeland, working overseas to live the retired life early, while expecting their entitlement for the government to write off their collective debt. Escape is never a good thing.

比如，外籍人士移居到第三世界国家来逃避他们不断增长的学生和信用卡债务，他们去到海外工作，提前享受退休生活，同时期望他们的政府注销他们的债务，逃避从来都不是一件好事。

Most Filipino family rely on a single breadwinner to go abroad to earn money for the whole family expecting this poor fellow to takecare of all if not the major expenses of the kin at home while the rest live the best of their lives, expecting for them to be able to go there as well, only to find out that the breadwinner have been accumulating debt to finance the expenses way back home and the $15/hr minimum salary (as of 2023) cant even put a decent roof over their head when they get there, all because they spend exactly if not more than what they earn.

大多数菲律宾家庭都依赖某位家人出国工作，养家糊口，家人们期望这个可怜的家伙承担全家人的生活开销，家人们过着滋润惬意的生活，期盼着自己有一天也能出国，结果才发现养家之人已经债台高筑，无力承担回国的路费，15美元/小时的最低工资(2023年的数据)也没办法给他们提供一个像样的住所，这一切都是因为他们大手大脚，入不敷出。

Some of the best stories ive heard are from the jews and chinese families who have helped one another to jointly work together building their own industry in their homeland from wherever they were born instilling their dignified culture before sending their children abroad for education and the expansion of family business.

我听过的一些最励志的故事是犹太家庭和中国家庭的事迹，他们相互扶持，一起努力，在家乡建立自己的产业，在把孩子送出国留学前教导孩子学习本国文化，学成之后扩大家族企业。

Hannah Madden

Rich in a poor country.

The rich always have the best of everything, no matter where they are.

What they can’t buy locally, they can import.

当然是在穷国当个富人了。

富人总能得到最好的东西，无论他们身处何方。

他们在当地买不到的东西，也可以进口。

Sana Pal

I don't think it matters if the country is poor or not. As long as you are rich, you're definitely privileged unlike many others. Imagine being able to afford a high quality education, a good house and healthcare and still having some money to spend!

我认为这个国家穷不穷并不重要。只要你有钱，你就绝对拥有特权。想象一下，你不但负担得起高质量的教育、好房子和医疗保健，除此之外，还有钱做其他消费！

Anjali Parihar

Without a doubt, a rich in a poor country.

So, let's say you happen to live in one of these countries:

毫无疑问，当然是在穷国当富人了。

假设你刚好生活在以下这些国家：

and you happen to drive this:

而你刚好开这个车：

or counting these money, in maybe Nigerian currency

或者有这么些钱可以数，也许是尼日利亚货币

Would you mind that?

你会介意吗？

Even if you are from some backward and poor country in Asia and Africa but you have money, you can CHOOSE to go to some big fancy school in US, UK. You will have a say, a power in wherever you are. Wealth attracts people, so don’t tell me it doesn’t matter. People generally at unconscious level judge someone based on their looks, attire and dressing. That’s the way society operates. Remember the recent incident wherein a scammer pretended to be a wealthy member of Arab royal family and stayed for a long number of days in some fancy hotel in Delhi showing off his car. Imagine some not so fancy person going there and enjoying luxuries without paying first. Would the staff had allowed that?

即便你来自亚洲和非洲的一些落后和贫穷的国家，但只要你有钱，你就可以选择去美国、英国的一些顶级学校学习。无论你在哪里，你都有发言权，拥有权力。财富自带耀眼光芒，所以别跟我说财富不重要。人们常常会潜意识地根据一个人的长相和穿着来判断对方。这就是社会的运行之道。还记得最近发生的那件事吗？一名骗子自称是阿拉伯王室的成员，在德里的豪华酒店里住了很久，炫耀他的汽车。想象一下，如果看起来不够时髦的人去那儿，不先花钱怎么可能享受奢靡生活。工作人员会允许吗？

In India, people are crazy about civil services despite knowing they can be thrown in any city/village of any district of any state. So, a person born, brought up and educated in Delhi/Mumbai may find himself/herself in some town of Jharkhand or Manipur. But he/she will be treated in a way as if they own the place. And people go for that government job, to be an elite person there, to be rich in poor.

在印度，人们追捧公务员的工作，尽管他们知道公务员会被派往任何邦的任何城市或村庄工作。所以，一个在德里/孟买出生、长大、读书的人可能会被派往贾坎德邦或曼尼普尔的某个城镇工作。但他/她会被当作是当地的主人一样。人们争抢政府公职，力争成为体制内的精英，成为贫困群体中的富人。

Now, coming to being poor in rich countries - man, there is nothing in sexy in being poor.

you can’t afford food；

Healthcare;

Home, or education; most probably you will die soon, obviously lifestyle affects life expectancy and don’t even get me started on emergencies like covid, wars where differences get if anything, exaggerated.

至于富国里的穷人—老兄，穷人的日子不好过啊。

你买不起食物；

负担不起医疗保健；

更负担不起家庭开支和教育；你可能命不久矣，显然生活方式会影响预期寿命，更不用说疫情，战争等紧急情况会让贫富差距进一步扩大。