Monday, May 13, 2013

Something to think about

80% of the world’s population live on less than $10 a day.


Over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.

Rural areas account for 75% of people living on less than $1 dollar a day.

More than 80% live in countries where income inequality is increasing.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 impoverished children die daily. In 2003, 10.6 million children died before age five. They “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

28% of children in developing countries are underweight, malnourished and/or stunted.

Tens of millions of impoverished children aren’t in school. At the start of the new millennium, nearly a billion people were illiterate. Less than 1% of what’s spent on weapons globally can provide universal primary education.

Preventable infectious diseases claim millions of lives annually. Unsanitary water and lack of basic sanitation affect half the world’s population. Nearly half the population in developing countries, at any given time, experience water and/or sanitation related health problems.Diarrhea and other water-related illnesses claim at least 1.8 million child deaths annually.

One-third of children in developing countries have inadequate shelter. About half the world’s population live in urban communities. In 2005, about one-third lived in slum conditions. 1.6 billion people have no electricity. Billions lack basic necessities overall. It’s reflected in lower than average life expectancy, as well as high infant and child mortality rates.

One in seven have no access to health care.

Around 100 million working age Americans are jobless. Many more others are underemployed. Millions struggle to pay rent, service mortgages, cover medical bills, heat homes, and manage other daily expenses.

America’s top 1% owns over half the nation’s wealth. 1% has more wealth than the bottom 95%.

Income inequality is greater than in all other developed countries. Over three-fourths of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck.

By 2020 one in four British children will be living in relative poverty. In Great Britain, a family find themselves homeless every 15 minutes.

Experiments with monkeys show clearly that animals take into account both their own and others’ rewards or actions in comparison to their own. The experiment shows the emotional responses that one monkey made when it clearly thought unfair treatment was taking place. The monkey throws a tantrum when it realises it was receiving cucumbers for its efforts over the preferred fruit - grapes.

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