The stark reality

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If Earth's population was shrunk into a village of just 100 people- with all the human ratios existing in the world still remaining-what would this tiny, diverse village look like? That's exactly what Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, attempted to figure out. This is what he found.

57 would be Asian.

21 would be European.

14 would be from the Western Hemisphere.

8 would be African.

52 would be female.

48 would be male.

70 would be nonwhite.

30 would be white.

70 would be non-Christian.

30 would be Christian.

89 would be heterosexual.

11 would be homosexual.

6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth.

All 6 would be from the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing.

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition.

1 would be near death.

1 would be pregnant.

1 would have a college education.

1 would own a computer.

The following is an anonymous interpretation

Think of it this way. If you live in a good home, have plenty to eat and can read, you are a member of a very select group. And if you have a good house, food, can read and have a computer, you are among the very elite. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are fortunate, more than three billion people in the world can't. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare, even in the United States. If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful... You are blessed because the majority can, but most do not. If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder...you are blessed because you can offer healing touch. If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Think about it.

Taken from: http://www.randomania.net/

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That's what is so amazing about living in the US. One can start out being in the 80% living in substandard housing, and 50% suffering from malnutrition, but can take advantage of the opportunities in this country to improve one's life.

We're not the 6 people owning most of the wealth, but we don't have any money worries to speak of. That's pretty wealthy in this world.

When I did my second trip to Egypt in 2002, I met a banker from Philadelphia, and he was telling me that the fact we were on the trip to Egypt was proof that we were living better than 80 percent of the world population. There has been nothing that I have seen since than to dispute his observation.

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Re: The stark reality

Bartikus wrote:

6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth.

All 6 would be from the United States.

1 would own a computer.

that last figure is almost certainly wrong. it implies that at most 1/6 of the wealthiest people in the USA own a single computer.

just googling, i came up with 778 PCs per 1,000 people for the US here:
http://www.c-i-a.com/pr0206.htm

and 544 per 1,000 here:
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_per_com_percap-media-personal-computers-per-capita

granted, the numbers don't match. the "authoritative" figures are contained in the ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database which is unfortunately not available online. but considering how many people have multiple computers in the USA, the figures i googled are much more plausible to me.

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Re: The stark reality

yitwail wrote:

Bartikus wrote:

6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth.

All 6 would be from the United States.

1 would own a computer.

that last figure is almost certainly wrong. it implies that at most 1/6 of the wealthiest people in the USA own a single computer.

just googling, i came up with 778 PCs per 1,000 people for the US here:
http://www.c-i-a.com/pr0206.htm

and 544 per 1,000 here:
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_per_com_percap-media-personal-computers-per-capita

granted, the numbers don't match. the "authoritative" figures are contained in the ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database which is unfortunately not available online. but considering how many people have multiple computers in the USA, the figures i googled are much more plausible to me.

Actually yitwail, I think the figures imply that 1 out of 100 people in the world own any computer at all. Truth is if your reading and posting here.....your one of the fortunate ones.

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Re: The stark reality

Bartikus wrote:

Actually yitwail, I think the figures imply that 1 out of 100 people in the world own any computer at all. Truth is if your reading and posting here.....your one of the fortunate ones.

i know it implies 1 out of 100, and i agree we are fortunate to have computer access. however, UN's figures for 2005 indicate a world population of about 6.5 billion and a US population of about 300 million. so if half the US population owns a computer, that's 150 million times 100 divided by 6.5 billion or 15 billion divided by 6.5 billion, which is 2.3 computers for every 100 people in the world, even if nobody outside the US owns any computers.

but better yet, a similar calculation shows that only 4.6 percent of the world population is american. that being the case, how can the richest 6 percent of the world population all be american?

http://esa.un.org/unpp/

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yitwail,

Russia's economy is expanding faster than China from what I observed during my visit last month. China's economy is expanding at less than ten percent, while Russia's economy is expanding at greater than ten percent. Although most of my observations were seen in Moscow and St Petersburg, the lifestyle of the majority of Russians in those major cities are dramatic. When I think of China, I still see the people living in rural areas and those working in factories are not really making it. There are now many millionaires and billionaires in Russia, and China does too.

I'm sure there are large pockets of similar circumstances for Russians east of Moscow.

I think Bartikus' examples only tries to simplify the many variables that can't be explained from condensing the world population into 100 people.

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CI, i don't need statistics to demonstrate that wealth & opportunity aren't distributed equally across the world, but if someone's going to produce statistics, i expect them to be semi-accurate. it might be that i happened to pick the ones that are off, and the rest are solid, but i leave it to others to demonstrate that. i have determined that there really is a Phillip M. Harter, M.D. at the Stanford University School of Medicine, so i sent him an email pointing out the apparent miscalculation. if he responds, i'll post an update.

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in the meantime, here's an article explaining Dr. Harter's role in all this:

Quote:

Please Don't Forward This Email
Phillip Harter hit the "forward" button on his email program and became an accidental celebrity.

From: Issue 47 | May 2001 | Page 58 | By: Rekha Balu | Photographs By: Timothy Archibald

Sometimes, when he's having a particularly bad day, Phillip Harter answers his phone with a curt greeting: "I didn't write it!" But most of the time, when he answers his phone or checks his email, he enjoys hearing from some of the world's most famous people and influential organizations -- including CNN, Gallup pollsters, and members of the White House staff.

Why is Harter, a 47-year-old assistant professor of surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine, so popular with so many? Because they have all received or heard about a poignant email message bearing his name, title, phone number, and email address. You may have received it too: "If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people," it begins, then 57 would be Asian, 11 would be homosexual, 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education, and so on. The statistics are striking, and they score some moving points about the distribution of wealth, health, and power around the world.

There's just one problem: Harter has no idea where the statistics came from, and he didn't create the original message. He is an accidental celebrity -- the victim (or beneficiary) of the "forward" button on our email programs and our eagerness to make contact with people whose messages get us to stop and think. "I'm waiting for our new president to contact me," Harter says dryly.

It all started one morning almost four years ago. Harter received a message (he can't remember from whom) that made him take notice. So he decided to forward it -- coupled with his usual automatic signature listing him as a professor at Stanford -- to his colleagues, friends, and family members. Harter forgot about the message as soon as he sent it, and nothing much happened for about six months. Then strange queries started trickling in -- from professors, schoolteachers, the World Health Organization. Could he verify the data in his email? Did he have backup sources?

But that was just a hint of things to come. After a collection of magazines, newspapers, and columnists received the email and published the statistics (without bothering to check with Harter, of course), his inbox was flooded -- and his 15 minutes of global fame were under way. A Latvian newspaper paid homage to this great communicator (or to a misspelled version of him) in a full-page story. The email was reprinted on discussion boards for the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio, as well as in a pagan resource guide on the Web and a Brazilian project advocating an increased use of Esperanto. A population course at Michigan State University listed the email as suggested reading. Someone even sent Harter a copy of the statistics done in calligraphy and laminated with pressed flowers. "I didn't have the heart to say it wasn't me," he admits.

For a while, during the height of the storm, Harter left an outgoing message on his voice mail instructing curious data hounds to look elsewhere. And he still answers every email he gets -- and he gets about three inquiries a day. The range is remarkable, from long-lost college pals to outraged right-wing religious groups upset with "his" claim that only 30 people in the 100-person global village would be Christian.

But what really put Harter on edge was when former Stanford president Gerhard Casper used some strikingly similar statistics in his outgoing commencement address. "The last thing I needed was to lose my job because the president of the university had used inaccurate information," Harter says.

It turned out that Casper's people had verified the statistics that they used. And top demographers, including William Frey, of California's Milken Institute, say that many of the assertions listed in the email do in fact check out. "This is the kind of email I'd like to get more of," Frey says.

You'll forgive Phillip Harter if he has a different opinion.

A version of this story originally appeared on fastcompany.com.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/47/harter.html

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I think the general point is we are fortunate for having computer access, food, clothing, shelter......etc.

Most people in the world do not have the luxury of quibbling over the accuracy of any given statistic.

They are more than just statistics IMO they are......people.

I think most people who frequent these forums know they are generally fortunate people.

I just don't think everyone realizes just how fortunate/blessed they are.

By the way.....If half of all Americans owned a computer as you said.....your conclusion would certainly make more sense than what I had posted.

Actually it is not even computer access that makes us fortunate....

just a quibble.

Seriously though....how was breakfast?

Kinda weird how you zeroed in on a statistic regarding computers and said little else. Kinda surprised me.

Then again.

lol just jokin my semi accurate friend.

Just for shyts and giggles.

How much of a difference would it have made if the sentence said

10 of those people would own a computer?

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Bartikus wrote:

I Kinda weird how you zeroed in on a statistic regarding computers and said little else. Kinda surprised me.

alright, i'll zero in on something else then. according to the Food & Agriculture Organization of the FAO,

Quote:

Chronic hunger plagues 852 million people worldwide

http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2004/51809/index.html

that's a lot less than 50 out of every 100 people.

same with literacy. according to UNESCO, 2000-2004 world adult literacy rate is 81.7% and youth literacy rate is 86.6%.

http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/file_download.php/4bcceada0648214c29a438267aa5ad3ftable2_adultyouth.pdf

pretty big difference between 70% being unable to read, and over 80% being able to read. but perhaps that's "quibbling."

Quote:

How much of a difference would it have made if the sentence said

10 of those people would own a computer?

for one thing, it would be a lot easier for 10 people to share a computer, than it would be for 100 people to share one. but mainly, it makes a difference to me that bogus figures are thrown out and then passed off as having come from an authority figure who had nothing to do with concocting those figures.

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I guess if you went to enough sources....the statistics would show quite a range of conclusions. No matter what the source....you are doing ok.

Fact is yitwail.....in terms of water, food, clothing, shelter, finance, opportunities.....etc. you and I are probably doing better than most. Do you agree or disagree?

If your not.... let me know and I will do what I can.

How is malnutrition defined?

"If you don't get enough of one specific nutrient, that's a form of malnutrition (although it doesn't mean you will necessarily become seriously ill). The most common form of malnutrition in the world is iron deficiency. The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 4 to 5 billion people - up to 80% of all people in the world "

Just throwing that out there...

It's ok (I think) to appreciate being fortunate don't you? lol

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article361575.ece

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Bartikus wrote:

It's ok (I think) to appreciate being fortunate don't you? lol

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article361575.ece

glad you find my posts so amusing. why don't you insert a smilie instead, hm? lol's getting a little stale.

i can't access the link you provided, without paying up or registering. nonetheless, i commend you for providing it. still, why am i not surprised it overstates the gravity of the situation? here's equivalent date from unesco:

Quote:

4-5 billion people (66-80% of the world's population) may be iron deficient; 2 billion people (over 30% of the world's population) are anemic, mainly due to iron deficiency.

http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/appeal/ECCE/Advocacy_letters/IRON_AND_IODINE_DEFICIENCY.pdf

somehow the "66-" part got lopped off. moreover, since anemia is the principal consequence of iron deficiency, the 30% figure might be a more realistic one--the 66-80 would not distinguish between someone who's 1% deficient versus someone who's 50% deficient.

another misleading aspect of using iron deficiency to define malnutrition is its prevalence in India, largely because of vegetarian diets. for example, according to a recent Micronutrient Initiative report, the average urban or rural Indian is iron deficient:
in urban areas, Indians get on average just 82.86% of RDA, and in rural areas, 90.26%.

http://www.micronutrient.org/NewsRoom/23rd%20oct-final%20pdf%20for%20web.pdf

and from the same source, here's the prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anaemia in India:

Quote:

Estimated prevalence of IDA in children
under 5 years of age: 75%
Estimated prevalence of IDA in women in
age 15-49: 51%

obviously, not all Indians are iron deficient, but it's still quite likely that most of the world's iron deficiency occurs in India. finally, consider that iron defiency is hardly uncommon in the USA:

Quote:

Table 3.--Nutrient Intakes: Percentages of individuals with diets meeting 100 percent of the 1989 Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs),
by sex and age, 2-day average, 1994-96--continued

iron
males 20 and over...... 85.8%
females 20 and over... 37.7%
all individuals............. 60.9%

http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12355000/pdf/Csfii3yr.PDF

so, almost 40% of americans are malnourished by your definition. but to answer your question,

Quote:

Fact is yitwail.....in terms of water, food, clothing, shelter, finance, opportunities.....etc. you and I are probably doing better than most. Do you agree or disagree?

i have no idea how you're doing. what's your hemoglobin count, for instance? i've personally been anemic in the past, because i rarely eat red meat. i can agree that i'm doing better than many, but i need more reliable stats than are provided in this thread to conclude that i'm doing better than most. i'm certainly more fortunate than the 12% of US black males in their 20's and early 30's who were incarcerated in 2002 according to the DOJ:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/pjim02.pdf

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I smile and laugh at times but not because i find your posts amusing.

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ah, so you're amused by your own posts? that's droll.

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yitwail wrote:

ah, so you're amused by your own posts? that's droll.

No but... your purblind thought that it's an either/or conclusion is of a rather mirthful
nature to say the least. Laughing

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oh, it strikes you as full of gladness & gaiety? that's merely odd, not droll.

certainly it occured to me that you were mocking me with your lol's and now your emoticons. however, i prefer to think well of people, until they prove themselves unworthy of that regard.

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No....now your posts are arousing or provoking laughter (mirthful).

I'm not mocking you yitwail. Just enjoying the exchange and the manner in which the point of
my post has been completely pretermitted.

I'll be sure to use reliably accurate....maybe even verifiable and proveable statistics in the future just as you have. *snicker*

It was fun though.

Take care. Razz

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same to you; i don't mind looking up data, but i'd just as soon let other people take a crack at it. had to look up pretermitted--that's an uncommon word outside the legal profession, i'm guessing--but i'm surprised that it's the third time it appeared in an a2k post this year.

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I'm a paralegal.

By the way my hemoglobin/red cell count is rather high and I require liters of blood to be taken every couple weeks.

Polycythemia Vera. A direct result of the cysts on my kidneys due to Renal Tubular Acidosis (type 1 distal).

The worst part are the hundreds of kidney stones that have formed and passed over the years measuring in sizes as large as 14 mm.

I was told I have one of the worst cases ever seen.

Maybe I'm not one of the fortunate ones after all.

Excuse me while I am sometimes prone to fantasy.

Sometimes I feel I gotta escape just to stay sane you know?.

I don't know why I'm telling you this.....?

Watch that anemia....I hear it can become even more troublesome the older you get.

I hope you become more fortunate as time rolls on.

If you think I came off as a smartass well.....I did. lol

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last checkup i had was within the last 2 years, and apparently all was normal, so my anemia is in remission perhaps. kidney stones sounds awful, but if it's due to excess hemoglobin, i hope you're spared application of leeches. Shocked

let me add a postscript to my last comment. this particular exercise in "quibbling" had an entertainment value for me as well--i did receive an email today from Dr. Harter denying authorship, and even if the piece was a well-known hoax, i at least spotted it independently.

the problem with fortune is that it tends to be cyclic. if it's general trend is upward, i'd just as soon it went in a straight line, rather than an upward trending zigzag.

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The stark reality

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