Latin America was a pretty poor place in 1980. Its gross domestic product per person amounted to only 42% of that of the average citizen of the so-called Group of Seven rich nations that then ruled the roost.

Then lots of things happened: Governments from Buenos Aires to Mexico City did a 180 on a half-century of statist, inward-looking economic policy. They slashed budgets and sold off public enterprises; opened up to trade and foreign capital. Mexico hitched its economy to the United States through Nafta. Brazil and Argentina tied the knot (sort of) via Mercosur. China swooped in to buy the region’s commodities.

And last year, Latin America’s domestic product per person amounted to 29% of that of the G7 nations.

But before you blame Latin American incompetence, consider this: The economic output of the average citizen of Africa declined from 17% to 10% of that of the average citizen of the rich world over those 42 years, measured at purchasing power parity; the average GDP per capita in the Middle East plummeted from 114% to 41% of the G7’s.