How is it that a country might have a large GDP, but its people might not be better off than another country with a smaller GDP?

High GDP does not always guarantee equal distribution of resources in a country. For example, in communist China, they have a high GDP, but because the means of production in many industries are owned and/or controlled by the government, the people don’t get to reap the benefits as they would in a free-market, open trade, capitalist country.

The answer would be advertising.