Today, over 22,000 children died around the world
Background facts that are behind the policy ad planning of CROSS work
Today, over 22,000 children died around the world
Below are important facts about poverty
* This page: http://www.globalissues.org/article/715/today-over-22000-children-died-around-the-world.
* To print all information e.g. expanded side notes, shows alternative links, use the print version:
o http://www.globalissues.org/print/article/715
Over 22,000 children die every day around the world.
That is equivalent to:
* 1 child dying every 4 seconds
* 15 children dying every minute
* A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring almost every 10 days
* A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 10 days
* An Iraq-scale death toll every 18–43 days
* Just under 8.1 million children dying every year
* Some 88 million children dying between 2000 and 2009
The silent killers are poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. Despite the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage.
This web page has the following sub-sections:
1. Some more numbers on the state of the world’s children
2. Why is this tragedy not in the headlines?
3. Recent headlines in context
4. About Child Deaths
5. Why is child mortality important to understand?
6. Cautious optimism in reducing child mortality
7. Notes and Sources
1. Sources for child deaths
2. Sources for Haiti comparison
3. Sources for Asia Tsunami comparison
4. Sources for Iraq comparison
8. Related Information
Some more numbers on the state of the world’s children
From UNICEF, the world’s premier children’s organization, part of the United Nations:
* 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation
* 1 billion children are deprived of one or more services essential to survival and development
* 148 million under 5s in developing regions are underweight for their age
* 101 million children are not attending primary school, with more girls than boys missing out
* 22 million infants are not protected from diseases by routine immunization
* 8 million children worldwide died before their 5th birthday in 2009
* 4 million newborns worldwide are dying in the first month of life
* 2 million children under 15 are living with HIV
* >500,000 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth
Source: State of the World’s Children, 2010 PDF formatted document, UNICEF, p.18-19. See also ChildInfo.
Back to top
Why is this tragedy not in the headlines?
UNICEF’s 2000 Progress of Nations report tried to put these numbers into some perspective:
The continuation of this suffering and loss of life contravenes the natural human instinct to help in times of disaster. Imagine the horror of the world if a major earthquake were to occur and people stood by and watched without assisting the survivors! Yet every day, the equivalent of a major earthquake killing over 30,000 young children occurs to a disturbingly muted response. 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.
— A spotty scorecard, UNICEF, Progress of Nations 2000
Unfortunately, it seems that the world still does not notice. It might be reasonable to expect that death and tragedy on this scale should be prime time headlines news. Yet, these issues only surface when there are global meetings or concerts (such as the various G8 summits, the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, etc).
Images © UNICEF
Furthermore, year after year, we witness that when those campaigns end and the meetings conclude, so does the mainstream media coverage.
It feels as though even when there is some media attention, the ones who suffer are not the ones that compel the mainstream to report, but instead it is the movement of the celebrities and leaders of the wealthy countries that makes this issue newsworthy.
Even rarer in the mainstream media is any thought that wealthy countries may be part of the problem too. The effects of international policies, the current form of globalization, and the influence the wealthy countries have on these processes is rarely looked at.
Instead, promises and pledges from the wealthy, powerful countries, and the corruption of the poorer ones—who receive apparently abundant goodwill—make the headlines; the repeated broken promises, the low quality and quantity of aid, and conditions with unfair strings attached do not.
Accountability of the recipient countries is often mentioned when these issues touch the mainstream. Accountability of the roles that international institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, and their funders (the wealthy/powerful countries), rarely does. The risk is that citizens of these countries get a false sense of hope creating the misleading impression that appropriate action is taken in their names.
It may be harsh to say the mainstream media is one of the many causes of poverty, as such, but the point here is that their influence is enormous. Silence, as well as noise, can both have an effect.
Back to top
Recent headlines in context
When this page was initially written, the BBC’s top story on prime time television was about a British child kidnapped in Portugal. This is definitely a tragic story that needs reporting, but why, for the BBC and other British media outlets that pride themselves in outstanding international media coverage, is the plight of millions of children not daily headlines?
Another recent tragedy that sustained days of headline and prime time media coverage was the Virginia Tech massacre’s in the US. When media critics at Media Lens asked for the BBC’s rationale for such sustained coverage compared to more people dying each day in Iraq and receiving just a few minutes in comparison, the BBC responded that it happens every day in Iraq. See Putting Virginia Tech in Perspective for the follow up from Media Lens.
Investing in world's poorest children can save millions of lives, UN study finds, UN, September 7, 2010 (video source)
Some people fear there will be fatigue at hearing those depressing stories all the time, or the advertisers will pressure the media companies to put a bit more entertainment or good news on so that buying moods are not affected.
And does it have to be just bad news? Despite the tragedy, there is some measure of progress, which, perhaps with further public attention, could spur on more efforts in these areas and highlight important related issues.
However, news of tragedies in Iraq are also depressing, but nevertheless do received regular headline coverage.
Also there is worry that the lack of sensationalism attached to reporting the same news story each day will result in lower television viewing ratings and this may have various consequences—especially where advertising is concerned.
Finally there is the question of whether people want to hear about such depressing news stories. After all the media feels it is delivering what its viewers would like. However, it is difficult for people to know what they do or do not want to see, if they are never given the options of the alternatives. If the magnitude of this suffering is hardly reported in a sustained manner, how can viewers judge whether they wish to watch it or not?
Back to top
About Child Deaths
Of the 8.1 million child deaths (under-5s) in 2009, the vast majority occurred in just two regions:
Africa and South Asia accounted for 6.6 million child deaths in 2009.
Breaking that down further,
India, Nigeria, DRC, Pakistan, China, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Bangladesh accounted for the top 10 countries with the most under 5 child deaths in 2009
Back to top
Why is child mortality important to understand?
UNICEF summarizes the importance of child mortality:
The under-five mortality rate, often known by its acronym U5MR or simply as the child mortality rate … has several advantages as a barometer of child well-being in general and child health in particular.
First, it measures an ‘outcome’ of the development process rather than an ‘input’, such as per capita calorie availability or the number of doctors per 1,000 population—all of which are means to an end.
Second, the U5MR is known to be the result of a wide variety of inputs:
* the nutritional status and the health knowledge of mothers;
* the level of immunization and oral rehydration therapy;
* the availability of maternal and child health services (including prenatal care);
* income and food availability in the family;
* the availability of safe drinking water and basic sanitation; and
* the overall safety of the child’s environment
… among other factors.
Third, the U5MR is less susceptible to the fallacy of the average than, for example, per capita gross national income (GNI per capita). This is because the natural scale does not allow the children of the rich to be 1,000 times as likely to survive, even if the human-made scale does permit them to have 1,000 times as much income. In other words, it is much more difficult for a wealthy minority to affect a nation’s U5MR, and it therefore presents a more accurate, if far from perfect, picture of the health status of the majority of children (and of society as a whole).
— State of the World’s Children, 2008 PDF formatted document, UNICEF, January 2008, p.2 (see also p.149 for more details) [Emphasis and list formatting added]
Back to top
Cautious optimism in reducing child mortality
UNICEF also notes that the global child mortality rate declined by over a third between 1990 and 2009:
World child mortality rate declined from 89/1000 in 1990 to 60/1000 in 2008
Significant declines in under-five mortality rates between 1990 and 2009 in all regions, Child Survival and Health, ChildInfo, UNICEF, September 2010.
Progress has certainly been made as each year the number of children under 5 dying is slowly coming down. However, as UNICEF cautioned in their State of the World’s Children, 2008 PDF formatted document report, “progress has been unevenly distributed” (p.25). For example, good progress was made by a few nations with large populations, but many countries made “no progress or insufficient progress” (p.iii)
Also of concern is that the global financial crisis, largely the making of rich countries, is affecting the poorest. Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, estimates between 200,000 and 400,000 additional children will die because of this global financial crisis.
UNICEF’s State of the World Report 2010 PDF formatted document was compiled in August 2009. They noted at the time, “The risks to child rights from the current economic crisis and other external challenges must not be underestimated.” (p. 60). Furthermore, “The full impact of the crisis on child rights will not be evident for some time, and will only become apparent as new international estimates of global poverty, child development and nutrition emerge.” (p.62)
Back to top
Notes and Sources
Sources for child deaths
These mortality figures are from UNICEF. 88 million covers deaths between 2000 and 2009, the latest figures from UNICEF at time of writing.
The term “Children” in this context means infants under the age of 5. The tragedy is therefore even worse if older children, adults, and the elderly are to be considered.
The approximate number of deaths in those 10 years is calculated by averaging the deaths per year for known figures in that range and multiplying by 10 years, which gives a total of 88.1 million deaths.
Given the population is increasing, the percent of deaths being reduced over those 10 years as just 0.05%.
* This page: http://www.globalissues.org/article/715/today-over-22000-children-died-around-the-world.
* To print all information e.g. expanded side notes, shows alternative links, use the print version:
o http://www.globalissues.org/print/article/715
Over 22,000 children die every day around the world.
That is equivalent to:
* 1 child dying every 4 seconds
* 15 children dying every minute
* A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring almost every 10 days
* A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 10 days
* An Iraq-scale death toll every 18–43 days
* Just under 8.1 million children dying every year
* Some 88 million children dying between 2000 and 2009
The silent killers are poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. Despite the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage.
This web page has the following sub-sections:
1. Some more numbers on the state of the world’s children
2. Why is this tragedy not in the headlines?
3. Recent headlines in context
4. About Child Deaths
5. Why is child mortality important to understand?
6. Cautious optimism in reducing child mortality
7. Notes and Sources
1. Sources for child deaths
2. Sources for Haiti comparison
3. Sources for Asia Tsunami comparison
4. Sources for Iraq comparison
8. Related Information
Some more numbers on the state of the world’s children
From UNICEF, the world’s premier children’s organization, part of the United Nations:
* 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation
* 1 billion children are deprived of one or more services essential to survival and development
* 148 million under 5s in developing regions are underweight for their age
* 101 million children are not attending primary school, with more girls than boys missing out
* 22 million infants are not protected from diseases by routine immunization
* 8 million children worldwide died before their 5th birthday in 2009
* 4 million newborns worldwide are dying in the first month of life
* 2 million children under 15 are living with HIV
* >500,000 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth
Source: State of the World’s Children, 2010 PDF formatted document, UNICEF, p.18-19. See also ChildInfo.
Back to top
Why is this tragedy not in the headlines?
UNICEF’s 2000 Progress of Nations report tried to put these numbers into some perspective:
The continuation of this suffering and loss of life contravenes the natural human instinct to help in times of disaster. Imagine the horror of the world if a major earthquake were to occur and people stood by and watched without assisting the survivors! Yet every day, the equivalent of a major earthquake killing over 30,000 young children occurs to a disturbingly muted response. 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.
— A spotty scorecard, UNICEF, Progress of Nations 2000
Unfortunately, it seems that the world still does not notice. It might be reasonable to expect that death and tragedy on this scale should be prime time headlines news. Yet, these issues only surface when there are global meetings or concerts (such as the various G8 summits, the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, etc).
Images © UNICEF
Furthermore, year after year, we witness that when those campaigns end and the meetings conclude, so does the mainstream media coverage.
It feels as though even when there is some media attention, the ones who suffer are not the ones that compel the mainstream to report, but instead it is the movement of the celebrities and leaders of the wealthy countries that makes this issue newsworthy.
Even rarer in the mainstream media is any thought that wealthy countries may be part of the problem too. The effects of international policies, the current form of globalization, and the influence the wealthy countries have on these processes is rarely looked at.
Instead, promises and pledges from the wealthy, powerful countries, and the corruption of the poorer ones—who receive apparently abundant goodwill—make the headlines; the repeated broken promises, the low quality and quantity of aid, and conditions with unfair strings attached do not.
Accountability of the recipient countries is often mentioned when these issues touch the mainstream. Accountability of the roles that international institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, and their funders (the wealthy/powerful countries), rarely does. The risk is that citizens of these countries get a false sense of hope creating the misleading impression that appropriate action is taken in their names.
It may be harsh to say the mainstream media is one of the many causes of poverty, as such, but the point here is that their influence is enormous. Silence, as well as noise, can both have an effect.
Back to top
Recent headlines in context
When this page was initially written, the BBC’s top story on prime time television was about a British child kidnapped in Portugal. This is definitely a tragic story that needs reporting, but why, for the BBC and other British media outlets that pride themselves in outstanding international media coverage, is the plight of millions of children not daily headlines?
Another recent tragedy that sustained days of headline and prime time media coverage was the Virginia Tech massacre’s in the US. When media critics at Media Lens asked for the BBC’s rationale for such sustained coverage compared to more people dying each day in Iraq and receiving just a few minutes in comparison, the BBC responded that it happens every day in Iraq. See Putting Virginia Tech in Perspective for the follow up from Media Lens.
Investing in world's poorest children can save millions of lives, UN study finds, UN, September 7, 2010 (video source)
Some people fear there will be fatigue at hearing those depressing stories all the time, or the advertisers will pressure the media companies to put a bit more entertainment or good news on so that buying moods are not affected.
And does it have to be just bad news? Despite the tragedy, there is some measure of progress, which, perhaps with further public attention, could spur on more efforts in these areas and highlight important related issues.
However, news of tragedies in Iraq are also depressing, but nevertheless do received regular headline coverage.
Also there is worry that the lack of sensationalism attached to reporting the same news story each day will result in lower television viewing ratings and this may have various consequences—especially where advertising is concerned.
Finally there is the question of whether people want to hear about such depressing news stories. After all the media feels it is delivering what its viewers would like. However, it is difficult for people to know what they do or do not want to see, if they are never given the options of the alternatives. If the magnitude of this suffering is hardly reported in a sustained manner, how can viewers judge whether they wish to watch it or not?
Back to top
About Child Deaths
Of the 8.1 million child deaths (under-5s) in 2009, the vast majority occurred in just two regions:
Africa and South Asia accounted for 6.6 million child deaths in 2009.
Breaking that down further,
India, Nigeria, DRC, Pakistan, China, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Bangladesh accounted for the top 10 countries with the most under 5 child deaths in 2009
Back to top
Why is child mortality important to understand?
UNICEF summarizes the importance of child mortality:
The under-five mortality rate, often known by its acronym U5MR or simply as the child mortality rate … has several advantages as a barometer of child well-being in general and child health in particular.
First, it measures an ‘outcome’ of the development process rather than an ‘input’, such as per capita calorie availability or the number of doctors per 1,000 population—all of which are means to an end.
Second, the U5MR is known to be the result of a wide variety of inputs:
* the nutritional status and the health knowledge of mothers;
* the level of immunization and oral rehydration therapy;
* the availability of maternal and child health services (including prenatal care);
* income and food availability in the family;
* the availability of safe drinking water and basic sanitation; and
* the overall safety of the child’s environment
… among other factors.
Third, the U5MR is less susceptible to the fallacy of the average than, for example, per capita gross national income (GNI per capita). This is because the natural scale does not allow the children of the rich to be 1,000 times as likely to survive, even if the human-made scale does permit them to have 1,000 times as much income. In other words, it is much more difficult for a wealthy minority to affect a nation’s U5MR, and it therefore presents a more accurate, if far from perfect, picture of the health status of the majority of children (and of society as a whole).
— State of the World’s Children, 2008 PDF formatted document, UNICEF, January 2008, p.2 (see also p.149 for more details) [Emphasis and list formatting added]
Back to top
Cautious optimism in reducing child mortality
UNICEF also notes that the global child mortality rate declined by over a third between 1990 and 2009:
World child mortality rate declined from 89/1000 in 1990 to 60/1000 in 2008
Significant declines in under-five mortality rates between 1990 and 2009 in all regions, Child Survival and Health, ChildInfo, UNICEF, September 2010.
Progress has certainly been made as each year the number of children under 5 dying is slowly coming down. However, as UNICEF cautioned in their State of the World’s Children, 2008 PDF formatted document report, “progress has been unevenly distributed” (p.25). For example, good progress was made by a few nations with large populations, but many countries made “no progress or insufficient progress” (p.iii)
Also of concern is that the global financial crisis, largely the making of rich countries, is affecting the poorest. Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, estimates between 200,000 and 400,000 additional children will die because of this global financial crisis.
UNICEF’s State of the World Report 2010 PDF formatted document was compiled in August 2009. They noted at the time, “The risks to child rights from the current economic crisis and other external challenges must not be underestimated.” (p. 60). Furthermore, “The full impact of the crisis on child rights will not be evident for some time, and will only become apparent as new international estimates of global poverty, child development and nutrition emerge.” (p.62)
Back to top
Notes and Sources
Sources for child deaths
These mortality figures are from UNICEF. 88 million covers deaths between 2000 and 2009, the latest figures from UNICEF at time of writing.
The term “Children” in this context means infants under the age of 5. The tragedy is therefore even worse if older children, adults, and the elderly are to be considered.
The approximate number of deaths in those 10 years is calculated by averaging the deaths per year for known figures in that range and multiplying by 10 years, which gives a total of 88.1 million deaths.
Given the population is increasing, the percent of deaths being reduced over those 10 years as just 0.05%.
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Showing posts with label poverty Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poverty Africa. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Suffering in 20111
poverty facts
more on
www.icrossinternational.org
www.icrosskenya.org
http://icrossprojects.blogspot.com/
Heressome really important facts about poverty
1.
At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.Source 1
2.
More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.Source 2
3.
The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.Source 3
4.
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And 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.”Source 4
5.
Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
If current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.Source 5
6.
Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers.Source 6
7.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.Source 7
8.
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.Source 8
9.
Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.Source 9
10.
Water problems affect half of humanity:
* Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
* Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
* More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
* Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%.
* 1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)
* Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea
* The loss of 443 million school days each year from water-related illness.
* Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.
* Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water.
* To these human costs can be added the massive economic waste associated with the water and sanitation deficit.… The costs associated with health spending, productivity losses and labour diversions … are greatest in some of the poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa loses about 5% of GDP, or some $28.4 billion annually, a figure that exceeds total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003.Source 10
11.
Number of children in the world
2.2 billion
Number in poverty
1 billion (every second child)
Shelter, safe water and health
For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
* 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
* 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
* 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
Children out of education worldwide
121 million
Survival for children
Worldwide,
* 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
* 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation
Health of children
Worldwide,
* 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
* 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)
Source 11
12.
Rural areas account for three in every four people living on less than US$1 a day and a similar share of the world population suffering from malnutrition. However, urbanization is not synonymous with human progress. Urban slum growth is outpacing urban growth by a wide margin.Source 12
13.
Approximately half the world’s population now live in cities and towns. In 2005, one out of three urban dwellers (approximately 1 billion people) was living in slum conditions.Source 13
14.
In developing countries some 2.5 billion people are forced to rely on biomass—fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung—to meet their energy needs for cooking. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 percent of the population depends on traditional biomass for cooking, as do over half of the populations of India and China.Source 14
15.
Indoor air pollution resulting from the use of solid fuels [by poorer segments of society] is a major killer. It claims the lives of 1.5 million people each year, more than half of them below the age of five: that is 4000 deaths a day. To put this number in context, it exceeds total deaths from malaria and rivals the number of deaths from tuberculosis.Source 15
16.
In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%:
The poorest 10% accounted for just 0.5% and the wealthiest 10% accounted for 59% of all the consumption:
Source 16
17.
1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity:
Breaking that down further:
Number of people living without electricityRegion Millions without electricity
South Asia 706
Sub-Saharan Africa 547
East Asia 224
Other 101
18.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.Source 18
19.
World gross domestic product (world population approximately 6.5 billion) in 2006 was $48.2 trillion in 2006.
* The world’s wealthiest countries (approximately 1 billion people) accounted for $36.6 trillion dollars (76%).
* The world’s billionaires — just 497 people (approximately 0.000008% of the world’s population) — were worth $3.5 trillion (over 7% of world GDP).
* Low income countries (2.4 billion people) accounted for just $1.6 trillion of GDP (3.3%)
* Middle income countries (3 billion people) made up the rest of GDP at just over $10 trillion (20.7%).Source 19
20.
The world’s low income countries (2.4 billion people) account for just 2.4% of world exportsSource 20
21.
The total wealth of the top 8.3 million people around the world “rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world’s financial assets.”
In other words, about 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s financial assets in 2004.Source 21
22.
For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.Source 22
23.
51 percent of the world’s 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations.Source 23
24.
The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.Source 24
25.
The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.Source 25
26.
In 1960, the 20% of the world’s people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% — in 1997, 74 times as much.Source 26
27.
An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about:
* 3 to 1 in 1820
* 11 to 1 in 1913
* 35 to 1 in 1950
* 44 to 1 in 1973
* 72 to 1 in 1992Source 27
28.
“Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”Source 28
29.
For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings:
* Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries.
* Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years).
* Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades.
* Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization.Source 29
30.
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 30
31.
Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998
Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Cosmetics in the United States 8
Ice cream in Europe 11
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan 35
Cigarettes in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780
And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:
Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Basic education for all 6
Water and sanitation for all 9
Reproductive health for all women 12
Basic health and nutrition 13
Source 31
Notes and Sources
1. Sources:
* Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion, The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the fight against poverty, World Bank, August 2008
* For the 95% on $10 a day, see Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen and Prem Sangraula, Dollar a day revisited, World Bank, May 2008. They note that 95% of developing country population lived on less than $10 a day. Using 2005 population numbers, this is equivalent to just under 79.7% of world population, and does not include populations living on less than $10 a day from industrialized nations.
www.icrossinternational.org
www.icrosskenya.org
http://icrossprojects.blogspot.com/
more on
www.icrossinternational.org
www.icrosskenya.org
http://icrossprojects.blogspot.com/
Heressome really important facts about poverty
1.
At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.Source 1
2.
More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.Source 2
3.
The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.Source 3
4.
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And 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.”Source 4
5.
Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
If current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.Source 5
6.
Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers.Source 6
7.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.Source 7
8.
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.Source 8
9.
Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.Source 9
10.
Water problems affect half of humanity:
* Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
* Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
* More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
* Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%.
* 1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)
* Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea
* The loss of 443 million school days each year from water-related illness.
* Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.
* Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water.
* To these human costs can be added the massive economic waste associated with the water and sanitation deficit.… The costs associated with health spending, productivity losses and labour diversions … are greatest in some of the poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa loses about 5% of GDP, or some $28.4 billion annually, a figure that exceeds total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003.Source 10
11.
Number of children in the world
2.2 billion
Number in poverty
1 billion (every second child)
Shelter, safe water and health
For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
* 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
* 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
* 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
Children out of education worldwide
121 million
Survival for children
Worldwide,
* 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
* 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation
Health of children
Worldwide,
* 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
* 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)
Source 11
12.
Rural areas account for three in every four people living on less than US$1 a day and a similar share of the world population suffering from malnutrition. However, urbanization is not synonymous with human progress. Urban slum growth is outpacing urban growth by a wide margin.Source 12
13.
Approximately half the world’s population now live in cities and towns. In 2005, one out of three urban dwellers (approximately 1 billion people) was living in slum conditions.Source 13
14.
In developing countries some 2.5 billion people are forced to rely on biomass—fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung—to meet their energy needs for cooking. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 percent of the population depends on traditional biomass for cooking, as do over half of the populations of India and China.Source 14
15.
Indoor air pollution resulting from the use of solid fuels [by poorer segments of society] is a major killer. It claims the lives of 1.5 million people each year, more than half of them below the age of five: that is 4000 deaths a day. To put this number in context, it exceeds total deaths from malaria and rivals the number of deaths from tuberculosis.Source 15
16.
In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%:
The poorest 10% accounted for just 0.5% and the wealthiest 10% accounted for 59% of all the consumption:
Source 16
17.
1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity:
Breaking that down further:
Number of people living without electricityRegion Millions without electricity
South Asia 706
Sub-Saharan Africa 547
East Asia 224
Other 101
18.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.Source 18
19.
World gross domestic product (world population approximately 6.5 billion) in 2006 was $48.2 trillion in 2006.
* The world’s wealthiest countries (approximately 1 billion people) accounted for $36.6 trillion dollars (76%).
* The world’s billionaires — just 497 people (approximately 0.000008% of the world’s population) — were worth $3.5 trillion (over 7% of world GDP).
* Low income countries (2.4 billion people) accounted for just $1.6 trillion of GDP (3.3%)
* Middle income countries (3 billion people) made up the rest of GDP at just over $10 trillion (20.7%).Source 19
20.
The world’s low income countries (2.4 billion people) account for just 2.4% of world exportsSource 20
21.
The total wealth of the top 8.3 million people around the world “rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world’s financial assets.”
In other words, about 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s financial assets in 2004.Source 21
22.
For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.Source 22
23.
51 percent of the world’s 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations.Source 23
24.
The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.Source 24
25.
The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.Source 25
26.
In 1960, the 20% of the world’s people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% — in 1997, 74 times as much.Source 26
27.
An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about:
* 3 to 1 in 1820
* 11 to 1 in 1913
* 35 to 1 in 1950
* 44 to 1 in 1973
* 72 to 1 in 1992Source 27
28.
“Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”Source 28
29.
For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings:
* Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries.
* Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years).
* Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades.
* Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization.Source 29
30.
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 30
31.
Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998
Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Cosmetics in the United States 8
Ice cream in Europe 11
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan 35
Cigarettes in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780
And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:
Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Basic education for all 6
Water and sanitation for all 9
Reproductive health for all women 12
Basic health and nutrition 13
Source 31
Notes and Sources
1. Sources:
* Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion, The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the fight against poverty, World Bank, August 2008
* For the 95% on $10 a day, see Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen and Prem Sangraula, Dollar a day revisited, World Bank, May 2008. They note that 95% of developing country population lived on less than $10 a day. Using 2005 population numbers, this is equivalent to just under 79.7% of world population, and does not include populations living on less than $10 a day from industrialized nations.
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