The world as seen by the eyes of a 20 year old girl in Nigeria, a 10 year boy in India or a middle-aged family man in Argentina, is a much different place from the one acknowledged by the average Western citizen. The text that follows is mainly consisted of numbers and this because any comment is unnecessary.
Society
The financial assets of the 200 richest people of the world (for the year 1998) were bigger than the total annual income of the 41% of the people on Earth.
826 millions persons are under-nourished (data 1996-98). 71 millions of these people live in the USA. Each day 26.000 people die from hunger, almost half of them are children.
880 millions people do not have access in basic medical-care services. 17 millions persons die every year from curable illnesses as diarrhoea, malaria, tuberculoses. 5 millions pass away because of polluted water. 30.500 children pass away each day because of non-existing basic medical care.
Half the population of Earth is forced to live with less than $2.5 per day.
125 millions children do not also will never attend school.
War and peace
In every 12 persons corresponds a portable weapon, there are, worldwide, more than 500 millions. Portable weapons are responsible for 4.000.000 deaths after 1990. 80% of those deaths were women and children.
From the end the 2nd WW, 250 war conflicts of medium scale, occurred, in which 23.000.000 people died. The 20th century has the dreary privilege of being the bloodiest in the history of civilization. The last 90 years the number of dead people, killed in wars, is more than triple the corresponding number for the past 500 years. 90% of the victims of armed conflicts after the 2ndst and 2nd WW was 10% and 50%. WW were civilians. The corresponding percentages for the 1
During the 90s, 50.000.000 persons were forced to abandon their homes because of armed conflicts. In the same period 2.000.000 children were killed, 5.000.000 suffered infirmities, 12.000.000 became homeless. The children that were killed were more than the dead soldiers.
300.000 children serve as soldiers in roughly 30 countries of the world. Most of them are 15-18 years old, but there are significant numbers for ages as low as 10 years. 95% of those children will be killed before the age of 20.
Each year 26.000 citizens, 10.000 from those are children, are killed or are seriously wounded. It is estimated that there are about 70.000.000 mines buried in 70 countries around the world.
Despite the end of Cold War, 30.000 nuclear heads continue to exist. 5.000 from them are ready to be used in a matter of minutes. A typical hydrogen bomb of 150 KT can cause 200.000-9.000.000 deaths depending on her target and the ground morphology.
Since 1945, more than 2.000 nuclear weapons have detonated in development tests, almost 1 every 10 days.
Environment
A temperature increase of 3oC before the end of the century is expected, if the current levels of carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced.
Until 2050 the sea level is expected to rise 1.5 m . It is estimated that roughly 150.000.000 persons will be forced to abandon their residences.
Each day 137 animal and vegetation species disappear, a rate 1000 times bigger than the natural. It is estimated that 15% of the living species will disappear until 2050.
The continuing water pollution and the overexploitation of water resources will result in serious water shortage for more than 3,5 billions people, before the end of the century
References & Links:
Federation of American Scientists.orgUN Food and Agriculture Organization - State of Food Insecurity in the World 2000
UNDP Human Development report, 1998
UNDP Human Development report, 2000
UNICEF, The Progress of Nations 2000
UNICEF, The State of the World's Children 2002
US Environmental Protection Agency
