A Chinese migrant collects reusable bricks and recyclable metals on a newly demolished housing site in Beijing on May 17, 2012. China now has the world's second-largest economy, but it also has 1.4 billion people, with an estimated 500 million living in dire poverty. Per-capita gross domestic product is just over $4,000 a year, compared to about $47,000 in the United States. UPI/Stephen Shaver