Kids at every income level reveal their favorite toys

If you want to understand the world, look at how people live. Toys are a good place to start.

Dollar Street, a project from the Gapminder Foundation, went into hundreds of homes at different income levels around the world to photograph people’s possessions. The photographs provide an intimate glimpse into the lives of hundreds of families. The difference in income is striking. Yet there are a number of similarities between people of vastly different income levels, too.

"It's striking to see how similar our lives are," Gapminder co-founder Anna Rosling Rönnlund told Business Insider. "It makes the world less scary to see that most people struggle with everyday business most of the time and they are not so exotic and it's not so scary."

Below, check out some favorite toys around the world.

Gus Lubin contributed to a previous version of this story.

In an Indian home living on $29/month per adult, the favorite toy is a plastic bottle.

In an Ivorian home (Cote d'Ivoire) living on $61/month per adult, the favorite toy is a shoe.

In a Burundian home living on $29/month per adult, the favorite toy is dried maize.

In a Zimbabwean home living on $34/month per adult, the favorite toy is a home-made ball.

In a Haitian home living on $39/month per adult, the favorite toy is a tennis ball.

In a Zimbabwean home living on $41/month per adult, the favorite toy is an old toy car.

In a Bolivian home living on $254/month per adult, the favorite toy is a stuffed toy.

In a Burkinabe home living on $45/month per adult, the favorite toy is a broken plastic doll.

In a Haitian home living on $39/month per adult, the favorite toy car made out of recycled plastic items.

In a Burkinabe home living on $54/month per adult, the favorite toy is a tire.

In a Haitian home living on $102/month per adult, the favorite toy is a handheld video game.

In an Indian home living on $65/month per adult, the favorite toy is a home-made cricket bat.

In an Indian home living on $80/month per adult, the favorite toy is a broken plastic doll.

In a Filipino home living on $98/month per adult, the favorite toys are action figures.

In a Palestinian home living on $112/month per adult, the favorite toy is a plastic bottle.

In a Colombian home living on $123/month per adult, the favorite toy is a soccer ball.

In a Nigerian home living on $124/month per adult, the favorite toys are wooden poles.

In a Colombian home living on $145/month per adult, the favorite toy is a plastic ball.

In a Colombian home living on $163/month per adult, the favorite toy is a cat.

In a Filipino home living on $170/month per adult, the favorite toy is a plastic doll.

In a Tunisian home living on $176/month per adult, the favorite toy is a teddy bear.

In a Tunisian home living on $218/month per adult, the favorite toy is a scooter.

In an Indian home living on $245/month per adult, the favorite toy is a toy truck.

In a Jordanian home living on $249/month per adult, the favorite toy is a stuffed animal.

In a Rwandan home living on $251/month per adult, the favorite toy is a stick.

In a Indian home living on $170/month per adult, the favorite toy is a bunch of marbles.

In an American home living on $3 450/month per adult, the favorite toy is an iPhone.

In a Bolivian home living on $254/month per adult, the favorite toy is a soccer ball.

In a Bolivian home living on $265/month per adult, the favorite toy is a toy truck.

In a Cambodian home living on $463/month per adult, the favorite toy is a puppy.

In a Ukrainian home living on $476/month per adult, the favorite toy is a cell phone.

In a Latvian home living on $480/month per adult, the favorite toy is a stuffed animal.

In a Jordanian home living on $583/month per adult, the favorite toy is a table computer.

In a Ukrainian home living on $694/month per adult, the favorite toy is a Lego figurine.

In a Mexican home living on $1,093/month per adult, the favorite toy is an electric guitar.

In a Swedish home living on $2,223/month per adult, the favorite toys are plastic dolls

In a Chinese home living on $2,235/month per adult, the favorite toy is a military tank model.

In a Kenyan home living on $3,268/month per adult, the favorite toy is a tablet computer.

In a Nepalese home living on $3,829/month per adult, the favorite toy is a teddy bear.

In an American home living on $4,650/month per adult, the favorite toy is baseball gear.

In a Swedish home living on $4,883/month per adult, the favorite toy is a Lego set.

In a Jordanian home living on $7,433/month per adult, the favorite toy is a large stuffed animal.

In a Latvian home living on $11,381/month per adult, the favorite toy is a stuffed animal.

In case you were wondering, here's a look at world population by income. It's a continuous scale — not a clear divide between the haves and the have-nots — with most people in the middle.

Income is rising everywhere and has been for the past 200 years. Here's Hans Rosling's famous presentation on that trend.

Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes - The Joy of Stats - BBC Four

Inequality is a problem, but progress is real.