Let's make Poverty a part of past; Nelson Mandela

[Aqeel]

Nelson Mandela called for the effort to make poverty part of the past. Here I've got some interesting facts and figures about poverty and spendings of the world.
Poverty is also a major reason for terrorism today in the world, If you belong to Britian and U.S.A then read it specialy, hope these facts will be thought provoking for you.

1. Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less than two dollars a day.
2. 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. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
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. 51 percent of the world’s 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations.
4. The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.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.
5. 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.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%.
6. 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.

1. An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about:
2. 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

1. “The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year [2000] because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels” The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants.
2. A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world’s poorest 2.5 billion people. “The 48 poorest countries account for less than 0.4 per cent of global exports.”
3. “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.” “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.”
4. “Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”
5. 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.

1. 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:
2. 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.

1. “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.”
2. 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%.” 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.
3. 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.

1. Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998

1. Global priorities in spending in 1998

1. Global Priority in $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 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

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)

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

[Qwerty]

Mandela isn't all he's cracked up to be.

[gossipingrae]

I know this is going to sound selfish, so be it. But, I hate when those commercials come on tv, asking to sponsor some child overseas who has no clothing, food, water, health care, etc.

I personally think that my country should be worried about what they are goign to do to change that situation with its OWN citizens, and not worry about those in other countries.

[neo_ny_23]

I agree with Rachel. Clean up your own home first before supporting some one else. We gotta be self-sufficient first before supporting some one else.

Another thing Aqeel - Poverty is NOT the reason for terrorism. Most of the terrorists are eithe from rich and affluent families or atleast middle class families. The major reasons of terrorism are: 1) Wrong and corrobated (check the spelling.. am not sure about it) education leading to Jehad or Gitmo and Abu Ghraib tortures 2) Wrong and short sighted foreign policies of different countries, and 3) Lack of diversity and globalisation in the middle eastern and many muslim nations around the world.

About eradicating poverty one thing each country can do is to 0) Stable and strong central government and regional governments 1) stop corruption in their own governments and NGOs (Non Government Organizations) 2) better education 3) strengthening economy on the basis of the rich natural resources the country has and 4) better communication. Communication doesnt only mean just phones or stuff like that. By better communication I mean, better phone facilities, better electricity, better roads, setting up better internet and computer facilities, opening your own country to the whole world so that your people will know whats happening outside your country and others will know whats happening in your country and whats the scope of employement and investment there. It broadens everyone's mind.

Building better roads, means more employment to poor people and by building better roads, u not only solve the problem of communication but also provide hard money to the poor people. When they have money, they send their kids to schools. When they send their kids to schools, their kids and eventually the families get education (not Islamic Jehad studies but realistic studies which are practical in today's world). When you get education, you have the power of knowledge. With better internet facilities, you come across various fields and scopes all around the world, which opens up your mind.

But, there is always a but! Countries around the world can successfully end poverty by ending corruption in their own offices and NGOs. As long as corruption is there, nothing I said above is gonna work. And again, the only mean of ending corruption is proper ethical education. Goverment officials should take the leads in anti-corruption campaigns and should be the ones to clean up first.


Thats all I can think of right now.