Whether one of the two countries is poorer is difficult to say. There are extreme economic divisions in India, with a huge majority being illiterate and poor, a small middle-class minority, and an even smaller upper-class minority. It's possible to move around - my dad's family went from poor to upper-middle-class in one generation (my mom was always kinda upper-class, isn't that how it always works ). I'd say the division is about 90%-9%-1%, but those are very biased and unsubstantiated based on my experiences there.