Can an economy grow while the average citizen becomes poorer

[Cgrexp]

To me i feel the financial stability of a country has little contribution to the welfare of a citizen, though there might be some positive outcome about that concerning job opportunities and all that, but I just have this feeling that someone can be in a developing country and also still be getting into debt and still get poorer. It might be due to some wrong choices or some wrong investments but not everyone would always be rich or would I say not everyone must be successful, I don't know if I'll say it's the rule of life as a whole, but it's something that's common. Some can even get the chance of hitting it big for a lifetime and still fumble the chance maybe due to unforseen circumstances or some misplaced priorities. Meanwhile some actually don't have the chance to make it big ever.

What's your take on this?

Where a country where everything seems to be working out perfectly fine on the economy I think it is certain that the level of suffering and poverty will be at the reduced rate because definitely when everything is working the average citizens will definitely be employed and  working to earn a living so it will definitely be at a reduced rate, the level of poverty and suffering will be lower.
So from your caption if you ask me I will say for a system where the economy is working and everything is intact the citizens can never become poorer but rather it will savage the situation and reduce the rate of poverty.

It is not so easy to eliminate poverty for all citizens of a country if the economy is well managed. Economic growth alone does not bring its benefits to everyone equally. A country's trade and commerce may expand, but if the benefits of that growth are limited to only a certain class of people, then the living standards of the common people may not improve much. The economic development of a country brings real benefits to the common people only when there is sufficient employment and the prices of daily necessities are within the purchasing power of the common people. It is also important to ensure education, business opportunities and social security. The real economic development of a country should not be judged only by its total wealth. It is also necessary to consider how easy and safe the lives of the common people have become as a result of that development.

[Victorybit1]

A person can be in a country with robust economy yet still struggling to survive, it happens because there is hardly any nation on earth where the poor does not exist. The average citizens may be able to have their basic needs met but some proportion of the population can still be living in serious debt and poverty even when the economy is thriving well. US is the biggest economy in the world yet in US there are so many homeless people, a lot of people are heavily indebted and all manners of crimes are being committed by people who could not afford decent meals.

I understand with you try to imply but with the homeless person comes the series of bad decisions that brought them to where they are because I believe they had the opportunity to do better in life, but in some country, it feels like you are programmed but remain poor even when you put In work, it even gets worse when the whole average or middle class gets erased and send to poverty line. That's the problem some country faces and it even gets to the point where one has to fight for even his/her fundamental rights

[Fortify]

To me i feel the financial stability of a country has little contribution to the welfare of a citizen, though there might be some positive outcome about that concerning job opportunities and all that, but I just have this feeling that someone can be in a developing country and also still be getting into debt and still get poorer. It might be due to some wrong choices or some wrong investments but not everyone would always be rich or would I say not everyone must be successful, I don't know if I'll say it's the rule of life as a whole, but it's something that's common. Some can even get the chance of hitting it big for a lifetime and still fumble the chance maybe due to unforseen circumstances or some misplaced priorities. Meanwhile some actually don't have the chance to make it big ever.

What's your take on this?

It's not really a take, it'd just be based on facts - yes an economy can grow while the average citizens income can reduce and it can be down to so many factors. Unfavorable exchange rates can mean that a countries currency needs more to buy less goods from another country, you might have the population of a country rise while the amount of new wealth or jobs created does not rise as much, you can have more wealth consolidated in the hands of fewer people through punitive company policies, inflation can factor in if it's higher than average payrises then people become poorer on the whole and there's probably plenty more scenarios like these. All of which can be true and several can be taking place at the same time which can make life much harder, but they're often due to either good or bad government economic management.

[Italian Panic]

It's not really a take, it'd just be based on facts - yes an economy can grow while the average citizens income can reduce and it can be down to so many factors. Unfavorable exchange rates can mean that a countries currency needs more to buy less goods from another country, you might have the population of a country rise while the amount of new wealth or jobs created does not rise as much, you can have more wealth consolidated in the hands of fewer people through punitive company policies, inflation can factor in if it's higher than average payrises then people become poorer on the whole and there's probably plenty more scenarios like these. All of which can be true and several can be taking place at the same time which can make life much harder, but they're often due to either good or bad government economic management.

What you say is true, but we also need to consider the fact that the money ends up in the usual pockets and among the usual connections, so it doesn't benefit the community. Another factor is inflation, which erodes purchasing power and leads to the impoverishment of the people. On top of that, we can also add that wages have been stagnant for 20 years.
So it's possible that even if an economy grows, people still become poorer.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Abdulzuruku01]

If the government is not doing enough for the people by providing them with jobs opportunities, they will get poorer. From my perspective, the government has a very big role to play in the lives of the people.
I agree with you that someone can live in a developed country and still be poor, but those living in a developed countries don’t suffer like those who come from underdeveloped countries. Some people are suffering because they didn’t utilized their resources properly, they were busy enjoying their lives without thinking about the future.

It is true that there are countries where their citizens suffer a lot when trying to grow economically. Honestly im most cases the majority of their citizens suffer not because they are lazy but because the government fails to provide some of its basic needs, such as security, healthcare facilities, steady electricity, good roads, and good and affordable education for its people. Because of those issues, local production of many products that could make normal citizens rich will not be possible. For example farming cannot be possible if there is insecurity in the country, which can lead to food scarcity.

[Kelvinid]

The growth of an economy does not automatically pointed out that the citizens are also living in a more developed and comfortable lives. Economic growth only refers to the increase of goods and services produced in a single economy over a target duration, but we can't assume that economic development will follow. Therefore, seeing people getting poorer is highly possible, despite of the very impressive GDP of an economy of a country.

[mirakal]

People do not enjoy equal opportunities from a single country. There are those who are living in average but still getting good opportunities while there are also living in poverty but the government has been very selective on what kind of opportunities that they can offer to them. Hence, no matter how high the growth of an economy, it does not guarantee the welfare and living standards of the people living on it. People can be very poor while the country itself is enjoying opportunities gained from reaching a highly positive economy.

[Iroh]

It is true that there are countries where their citizens suffer a lot when trying to grow economically. Honestly im most cases the majority of their citizens suffer not because they are lazy but because the government fails to provide some of its basic needs, such as security, healthcare facilities, steady electricity, good roads, and good and affordable education for its people. Because of those issues, local production of many products that could make normal citizens rich will not be possible. For example farming cannot be possible if there is insecurity in the country, which can lead to food scarcity.

Development cannot take place without providing and maintaining the basic framework needed for growth and development. Security, Education, Healthcare, power are just some of the basic infrastructure the government needs to prioritize if they ever want the populace to grow alongside the economy.
When the government fails to provide basic needs, the average citizen, having little choice than to rely heavily on those amenities will certainly find it difficult to get anything done. Literally.

The general populace should also feel it when the economy of the country enjoys a boost. The government would have to allocate more money to build new and also maintain old infrastructure. It's saddening that we've still got government of countries today that cannot/would not provide the basic amenities needed for growth in the society.

[Woodie]

The problem with growing an economy goes beyond what the ordinary citizen is going through, and unfortunately some of these indicators can be manipulated by the central bank in trying to contain inflation and push for a single digit or whatever their intention is like avoiding a currency being worthless.. Other indicators like the balance of trade can also offset these economy growth indicators so honestly these numbers sometimes can just be numbers!

[Smartvirus]

If the top few percent double their income and everyone else stays the same, does the country's GDP go up? Technically, yes. The problem with GDP is it's a single, massive number. If you take that number and divide it by the number of people in the country you get an average.

Indeed, the few that happens to earn more would always account for the incapable few, acting as a buffer for healthy growth of an economy, regardless of how the lower class are doing.

In developing countries growth gets localized to a few elite industries (telecom, oil, etc.) in the capital while everybody else lives with higher prices but unchanged wages. Harari argues something similar about farming. Agriculture made humans way richer as a species (allowing for larger populations, cities, kings, etc). But for the average farmer, life got harder; they worked longer, ate less and fell ill more often than the foragers they replaced. A different era, but inequality nonetheless.

There is always going to exists a company bottle neck and you find this mainly in industries and firms where a large population get to work themselves out and get nothing with the few at the top having everything to gain while offering very little and it does cover for all when reflected in the economy.

[Youngrebel]

The problem with growing an economy goes beyond what the ordinary citizen is going through, and unfortunately some of these indicators can be manipulated by the central bank in trying to contain inflation and push for a single digit or whatever their intention is like avoiding a currency being worthless.. Other indicators like the balance of trade can also offset these economy growth indicators so honestly these numbers sometimes can just be numbers!

U said it right. Economic growth is more than just the figures that we see, the thing is we should ignore these indicators completely because they help us understand how the economy is performing and the major problem we are having is that a country can report lower inflation or higher GDP while seeing that ordinary citizens are still struggling to afford food, pay their bills and meet their daily needs, and at the end of the day, what matters is not just what the statistics say but whether we the citizens are feeling the positive impact of the economy in their everyday lives.

[boyptc]

Not letting money flow to the working people has catastrophic results and even the world's elite will realise this sooner or later. I'm not sure what it will take for this to happen, but it's certainly bound to happen.

They should prepare for the worst.

Most of these elites think that they should live on this world only for them and not for average working people to get those money that should be for them.

It's not only the world elites that are involved in this. But also, they're like puppet masters which they play through the government officials.

We know that the reality of these GDPs are numbers to represent growth but for every country, we know what's the actual situation and even way worse than what those numbers are projecting.