Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in China instead of South Dakota, you would:

Health

be 73.9% less likely to be obese

In South Dakota, 35.6% of adults are obese as of 2022. In China, that number is 9.3% of people as of 2024.

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Economy

be 92.5% more likely to be unemployed

In South Dakota, 2.4% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In China, that number is 4.6% as of 2025.

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make 77.5% less money

South Dakota has a GDP per capita of $61,724 as of 2024, while in China, the GDP per capita is $13,862 as of 2025.

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Sources: World Bank (2025), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (PLACES) (2022), World Health Organization (2024), Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024). How we calculate this

Compare further: South Dakota vs. China

Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
China is 57.9% cheaper than South Dakota
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Size Comparison · See true size
South Dakota is about 49 times smaller than China.
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China: At a glance

China (sometimes abbreviated PRC) is a sovereign country in East/Southeast Asia, with a total land area of approximately 9,326,410 sq km. For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, MAO's successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight. Since the early 1990s, China has increased its global outreach and participation in international organizations.
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How big is China compared to South Dakota? See an in-depth size comparison.

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