According to the British economist and economic historian Angus Maddison in The World Economy: A Millenial Perspective and The World Economy: Historical Statistics, in regards to material prosperity, Europe reached a nadir around the year 1000 A.D., (when European GDP per capita was actually significantly lower then it had been in the first century A.D.) after a sustained decline since the 4th or 5th century A.D., but from around 11th century on substantial European growth was more or less constant until the late 18th/early 19th century, when it skyrocketed upwards. Western European GDP (PPP) per capita in 1000 A.D. (in 1990 international dollar figures) was around $427 compared to China at around $450, but by 1500 this had already changed dramatically, western Europe GDP per capita having risen to $771 with China’s rising to around $600. By 1700 European GDP per capita again rose dramatically to $997, while China’s remained stagnant around $600, with this divergence becoming even more pronounced by 1820, with $1,202 vs. $600 for western Europe and China, respectively. That is to say, western Europe has historically generally been wealthier then China on a personal income basis, with a substantial and dramatic decline in European per capita income from the 4th century to the 11th leading to a roughly five-hundred to eight-hundred year period of lower personal income for Europe in relations to China. In regards to share of global GDP (PPP), China retained a substantially greater share then western Europe until around 1820 to 1870, largely due to the massive Chinese population boom from about 1700 to 1820 (western Europe and Chinese GDP (PPP) were roughly equal around 1700).
Of course that is not to say that these figures are entirely accurate absolute. Some historians, (chiefly of the so-called ‘California School) among them Andre Gunder Frank, B.G. Wong and especially Kenneth Pomeranz in The Great Divergence argue that until the early 19th century the living standards and per capita incomes in the ‘core’ regions (namely northern France, the Low Countries, and the Yangzi delta and the Kanto plain) were roughly equivalent, although I personally find some of his arguments, especially regarding labor productivity and longevity entirely implausible.