Inequality in wealth: Just 0.13% of the world population controlled
nearly 25% of world financial assets in 2004
by Anup Shah
Inequality in wealth: Just 0.13% of the world population controlled
nearly 25% of world financial assets in 2004. That is, 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.
http://globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp#endAuthPageInfo
Consider the following poverty statistics
* Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less than
two dollars a day. source 1
* The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a
quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the
world's three richest people combined. source 2
* Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a
book or sign their names. source 3
* 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. 4
* 51 percent of the world's 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are
corporations. source 5
* The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and
poor of any industrialized nation. source 6
* 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 7
* 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the
world's goods. source 8
* The top fifth of the world's people in the richest countries enjoy
82% of the expanding export trade and 68% of foreign direct
investment - the bottom fifth, barely more than 1%. source 9
* 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 10
* 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 1992 source 11
* "The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this
year [2000] because world governments have failed to reduce poverty
levels" source 12
* The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1
it receives in grants. source 13
* A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world's
poorest 2.5 billion people. source 14
* "The 48 poorest countries account for less than 0.4 per cent of
global exports." source 15
* "The combined wealth of the world's 200 richest people hit $1
trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people
living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion." source 16
* "Of all human rights failures today, those in economic and social
areas affect by far the larger number and are the most widespread
across the world's nations and large numbers of people." source 17
* "Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still
chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia
and the Pacific." source 18
* According to UNICEF, 30,000 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."
That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million
children under five years of age, each year. source 19
* 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 20
* "Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one
dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion
have no access to clean water; 3 billion have no access to
sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity." source 21
* The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the
same income as 2.7 billion poor people. "The slice of the cake taken
by 1% is the same size as that handed to the poorest 57%." source 22
* The world's 497 billionaires in 2001 registered a combined wealth
of $1.54 trillion, well over the combined gross national products of
all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa ($929.3 billion) or those of
the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa ($1.34
trillion). It is also greater than the combined incomes of the
poorest half of humanity. source 23
* 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 24
* Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998 Global
priorities in spending in 1998
Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Basic education for everyone in the world 6
Cosmetics in the United States 8
Water and sanitation for everyone in the world 9
Ice cream in Europe 11
Reproductive health for all women in the world 12
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world 13
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainmentin Japan 35
Cigarettes in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780 source 25
* 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 26
* 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 assets in 2004. source 27
_______________________________________________
Biofuel mailing list
Biofuel@sustainablelists.org
http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org
Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages):
http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
