Behind the rapid economic growth, many hidden dangers also existed. The most typical was the widening gap between rich and poor.
There was not yet a set of indices to measure it, so Franz simply looked at the big statistical data. These figures were for the government's top ranks alone and would not be released publicly, so naturally there was no need to pad them.
In 1875, domestic gross national product stood at roughly 5.46 billion Divine Shields, indisputably the highest in the world. (This included the localized parts of Africa and the various constituent states.)
Looking only at the big data, domestic gross national product was twice that of the United Kingdom proper. The figures were certainly impressive, but once compared with the following data, they became hard to look at.
Austria's European territories had a population of approximately 78.2614 million, while the localized regions in Africa had about 6.2152 million, for a total of 84.4766 million. The British, meanwhile, had only just over thirty million people.
With 2.8 times the population but only just over twice the total economy, Austria was overtaken by Britain again when it came to per-capita figures.
Due to incomplete information, the Vienna Government could only make a rough estimate. Austria's per-capita income was probably a little over seventy percent of Britain's.
The one consolation was that it had surpassed France. Ever since Italy became deadweight dragging it down, France's per-capita income had fallen behind Austria's.
Of course, France's total economy had still risen. Like Austria, it relied on strength in numbers, and its gross national product had surpassed that of the United Kingdom proper.
Looking solely at total volume had no meaning whatsoever. Other than Austria's own figures, which had been surveyed, every other country's numbers were estimated by economists. An error margin