What does an Indonesian earn, and what does his/her domestic life look like?

"The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed." ~ William Gibson

Hello again dear readers. As always I hope all is well.

Recently this video went viral on TikTok based on the reactions of young American when confronted with the average monthly salary of Indonesian workers (in USD). The title of the video translates as “Income of Indonesians According to Americans):

@stevenaprilianoBerapa ya kira2 pendapatan orang di Indonesia menurut orang Amerika ? 🇲🇨🇺🇸 Jumlah penghasilan diambil dari rata2 UMR pekerja tetap / pekerja biasa di Indonesia ya #kerjadiamerika #hidupdiamerika #fyp #fypシ

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For those visiting Indonesia for the first time it can come as a shock to learn that the average daily wage is approximately $11 USD. But that number is within the context of Indonesia, not the USA or other first-world countries.

To better understand the economic life of a typical Indonesian, you can’t do better than Dollar Street. Let’s take a look at three families (two in Indonesia and one in the USA — for contrast), and actually peek inside their homes.

Family 61: click the image below and then scroll down.

Next is a family that earns 2.5X more than the above family.

Family 50: click the image below and then scroll down.

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For some contrast let’s look at a USA family that makes $1,269 USD, a bit more than the relatively well-off Indonesian family above.

Family 126: click the image below and then scroll down.

The Big Picture

In the past 50 years, Indonesia’s GDP has increased by 1,258 percent, or more than 12 times, from 88 billion rupiahs in 1970 to 1.2 trillion in 2019.

Below, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the ASEAN countries from 2018 to 2028:

Indonesia is in gray, a clear leader among all of the ASEAN countries.

In fact, by 2075 Indonesia will be the fourth largest economy in the world:

See 2075P (P for Projections).

I imagine if there is still something like TikTok in 2075, some Indonesian will interview Americans regarding their monthly income and this time the Indonesians will be in shock: You only make that much? We used to think you were so rich lol.

That’s it for now folks.

Later,

Neill

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