> pretty much every Indian I know had maids/gardeners/cooks at home.
In poorer countries - especially those with fairly unequal societies, hiring help is cheaper - not just absolutely, but proportionally, as well, so it's much more common. I read some economics discussions of this years ago, but don't really recall the details.
In other words, an Indian is a lot more likely to have hired help than a Norwegian, even if the Norwegian is better off.