Lefthanded and Colorblind

Saturday, August 26, 2006

To Live And Let Die



Worldwide, 91 percent of people die within 20 miles of their place of birth. This fact is astounding to me. But based on the following facts, it’s not too surprising.

  1. Current world population: 6,643,412,204
  2. Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.
  3. 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar per day.
  4. 1.3 billion have no access to clean water.
  5. 3 billion have no access to sanitation.
  6. 2 billion have no access to electricity.
  7. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
  8. An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about:
    1. 3 to 1 in 1820
    2. 11 to 1 in 1913
    3. 35 to 1 in 1950
    4. 44 to 1 in 1973
    5. 72 to 1 in 1992
  9. A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world’s poorest 2.5 billion people.
  10. The combined wealth of the world’s 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.
  11. The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people. “The slice of the cake taken by 1% is the same size as that handed to the poorest 57%.
  12. The world’s 497 billionaires in 2001 registered a combined wealth of $1.54 trillion, well over the combined gross national products of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa ($929.3 billion) or those of the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa ($1.34 trillion). It is also greater than the combined incomes of the poorest half of humanity.
  13. A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.
  14. US Passports issued in 2005 - 10,123,424.

Wealthiest Nations Per Capita

  • Luxembourg, per capita income $55,110, populaton 468,571
  • Norway, per capita income $37,800, populaton 4,593,041
  • United States, per capita income $37,800, populaton 295,734,134
  • San Marino per capita income $34,600, populaton 28,880
  • Switzerland per capita income $32,700, populaton 7,489,370

posted by MooseTownGuy at 4:51 PM

1 Comments:

  • So what do you suggest be done about this variance in the distribution of wealth? Communism tried the redistribution thing and failed pretty badly (turned into the dictator thing). Tons of money has been sent to help these desparate people and has been mainly siphoned off by corrupt governments officials. You insinuate that these people have been 'given' a smaller piece of the pie, but who is it that's doing the distribution?

    A different way of looking at this is how do you help these people get the tools to go grab their piece of the 'pie'. If you can figure that out then I argure that the pie gets even bigger.

    The trick is figuring out how to eliminate corrupt governments and dictators, end tribal warfare and religious extremeism. If you can manage that, then the resources of the wealthest can help educate, build infrastructure and limit population growth. I think many of the weathiest would be more than happy to do so if they thought it would be successful.

    People must be given the tools to be productive then have to opportunity and energy to work hard. The big trick is figuring out how to get the roadblocks out of the way.

    Bob

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:00 PM  

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