n 2017, GDP in Switzerland was $680 billion and GDP in the United States was $19.5 trillion. a. Does this indicate that the standard of living in Switzerland must be well below that of the United States? It indicates that the standard of living in Switzerland is well below the United States. nothing; GDP does not provide any information about living standards or economic activity. only that the United States has a higher amount of economic activity. b. We now learn that Switzerland has a population of 8 million people, while the United States has a population of 326 million people. How could you better scale the numbers to compare their standards of living? One option is to multiply each country's GDP by their population to get GDP per person, then compare these new figures. add the GDP figures together, then divide by total population. ignore this information. This new piece of information does not help us compare standards of living. divide each country's GDP by their population to get GDP per person, then compare these new figures.