I am beginning my graduate studies by taking a couple of classes at night (not really sure what I am working towards yet) and one of the first courses I am taking is a STS course (Science, Technology, and Society). During the introduction, we were given a handout meant to give us a bit of perspective about the world we live in. I found it to be very interesting and I just thought I would share it.
If We Shrank the Earth's Population to 100 people....
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look approximately like the following
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would not be Caucasian
30 would be Caucasian
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and 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 near birth
1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for aid, acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.