Final answer:
It is b. false to claim that China has a better standard of living than Japan based solely on rapid economic growth. GDP per capita is a more accurate measure of individual wealth and living conditions, and China's GDP per capita is significantly lower than that of the United States and Japan.
Step-by-step explanation:
It is false that China has a better standard of living than Japan because it is growing more rapidly. While it's true that rapid economic growth can contribute to improvements in the standard of living, it is not the sole determinant. To evaluate the standard of living, we must consider GDP per capita, which accounts for the average economic output per person, rather than total GDP, which does not account for population size.
Even though China's overall GDP is second only to the United States and it has experienced significant growth, when we consider its large population, China's GDP per capita is still much lower. For instance, China's GDP per capita is less than one fourth that of the United States. This indicates that the standard of living for the average Chinese citizen is quite poor compared to developed countries such as the United States and Japan.
The standard of living includes a variety of factors such as income, employment, class disparity, poverty rate, and housing affordability, which might not be reflected solely by GDP figures. Hence, a country's rapid economic growth does not necessarily translate into a higher standard of living for its citizens immediately or directly, especially if that growth is not evenly distributed across the population.