World Poverty Facts-
“Half of the world population starves.. other half diets” when I saw this on a notice board in my University, I didn’t think its an over exaggerated sentence. I think it tells the whole story in few words. But to know how wide the disparity is between the rich and poor and the effect of concentration of wealth and power in few hands we need to carefully look beyond the surface and be willing to learn the world we are living in. Here are some facts from my research about world poverty.
- About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations.
- Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted.
- Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
- 1.4 billion people live below poverty line that means they earn less than $1.25 per day.
- About 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s assets in 2004.
- The wealthiest 20% of the world’s population consumes 76.6% of the world’s goods while 80% of humanity gets the remainder.
- For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.
- 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.Source .
- Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
- For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years.
- The assets of the world’s three richest men are more than the combined GNP of all the least developed countries on the planet. .
- One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.
