Perception studies do have some amount of value even if the notion of “measuring perception” is inherently imperfect. Sometimes perception studies can reveal interesting gaps between perception and reality. Of course, your observations are things that researchers would consider, And they do complicate the findings of perception studies.

I had an old sociology professor many years ago who was fond of saying “A problem is a problem whether real or perceived“

its the difference between relative poverty and absolute poverty.

Because westerners (even relatively impoverished westerners) enjoy a standard of living which is hard to fathom, these significant gains don't look like much to western onlookers.