And when independence was on the verge of being secured, General George Washington emphasized that victory was particularly sweet for those who had yet to arrive to America. On April 18, 1783, his General Orders, at the cessation of hostilities between the U.S. and Great Britain, said of his troops: “happy, thrice happy shall they be ... who have assisted in protecting the rights of humane nature and establishing an Asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.” Emma Lazarus’s sonnet engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty echoed a belief held ever since then: that the idea of America is wrapped up in the welcoming of huddled masses through its golden door, so that they can live a better life.

Today, an individual’s place of residence is more important than ever in determining their opportunity. That’s because some countries (including the United States) have seen significant economic and social advance, while other countries have witnessed far slower progress. The gap between the richest and poorest nations has fallen over the past 20 years, but it still remains close to historically unprecedented highs.

As a result, inequality within countries is simply dwarfed by inequality across countries—and that applies to both outcomes and opportunities. Take education, an important determinant of success in the work marketplace. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an internationally comparable test of student learning in high school. According to Lant Pritchett, the average student in Peru scores the same on PISA as someone in the 6th percentile score in Denmark. The average student in Brazil is at the 9th percentile of Danish scores. The hardest working child in Latin America starts at a massive disadvantage compared to a student in Europe or the U.S. simply because of location. Students in the world’s poorest countries are even further behind.

When it comes time to finding a job, it again pays to be in the right country. For the vast majority of people worldwide, a formal sector job—not setting up as an entrepreneur, nor operating in the grey economy—is the secret to a comfortable life. But only 40 percent of the working population in the world has formal sector employment—and those jobs are concentrated in rich countries. For all the recent horror of a 10 percent unemployment rate in the U.S., the shortage of good jobs in the country is nothing compared to their all-but-total absence in the world’s poorest countries.

And as far as simply living long enough to enjoy the fruits of opportunity, while the bottom and top fifths of the income distribution within developing countries often see a twofold difference in child mortality, once again that inequity is dwarfed by the differences between rich and poor countries. For example, the risk of dying under 5 years old averages below 0.5 percent in most developed countries compared to above 10 percent in countries like Nigeria and Angola.