conventional carriers are less expensive but still it'll be a huge burden for those not so rich countries. you can project your carriers somewhere far, but can you afford that on a regular basis?
you talk about your population. suppose two households make the same annual earnings. let's say 20k dollars. one has 3 families to feed, the other has 10 families to feed. guess which one can afford overseas trips? it's the same problem for your navy comparing with UK. it's all about budget.
Stop please. What exactly is your question? You started out saying conventional carriers are abhorrently expensive. Then you admitted that they are cheaper than nuclear. Now you are talking about not so rich countries.
UNDERSTAND THIS:
No Navy in the world would go for a carrier without factoring in all the costs and their budget.(except maybe Pakistan cuz they buy shit in vast numbers without having a clue on financial constraint. Its like that guy who takes out 10 compounded loans to support a lifestyle that does not befit him).
To the question you KEEP REDUNDANTLY asking:
GLOBAL POWER PROJECTION DEPENDS ON THE RESPECTIVE NAVY'S GOALS/OBJECTIVES. THE END.
You can sit here and shout all you want about budget cost budget cost. That is just ONE of the factors, especially for a country like China.
The French, the germans and the Japanese can field a plethora of top notch carriers if they wanted to. But their navy's 'objectives' are not aligned for that. Just beacause you have an infinite budget, does not mean you go for a bunch of carrier groups. This is the skewed way of thinking that you have going in china, paksitan etc. Coming up with shit just to match what Uncle Sam does shows the lack of understanding one's vision/mission. Uncle Sam has so many carrier groups because he has legitimate strategic interests all over the world.
China wants to be like the USA, but its not yet there. Not even Close. China could never do something like what Russia did in Syria. It Does not have the experience/Power projection/Dipolamatic reach.