Something To Think About If the world were a village…

If the world were a village of 1000 people, it would include… 584 Asians 124 Africans 95 Eastern and Western Europeans 84 Latin Americans 55 former Soviets 52 North Americans 6 Australians and New Zealanders

The people of the village would have considerable difficultly in communicating…. 165 people speak Mandarin 86 people speak English 83 people speak Hindu/Urdu 64 people speak Spanish 58 people speak Russian 37 people speak Arabic

The previous list accounts for the mother tongues of only about ½ of the villagers. The other half speak in Bengali, Portuguese, Japanese, German, French and 200 other languages

Religion…. 329 Christians (187 Catholics, 84 Protestants, 31 orthodox) 178 Muslim 167 “non-religious” 132 Hindus 60 Buddhists 45 atheists 3 Jews 86 all other religions

1/3 (330) of these people are children… Only 60 are over the age of 65 ½ of these children are immunized against preventable infectious diseases such as measles and polio That means ½ ARE NOT

This year 28 babies will be born… 10 people will die 3 will starve to death 1 from cancer 2 deaths will be of babies born this year 1 person has HIV With 28 births and 10 deaths, next years population will be 1018

200 people receive 75% of the income in the village AND 200 people receive 2% of the income…. 70 people own an automobile (some of these own more then 1 auto)

About 1/3 have access to clean drinking water

Of the 670 adults in the village ½ are illiterate

The village has 6 acres of land per person (6000 total)…. 700acres cropland 1400 acres pasture 1900 acres woodland 2000 acres desert, tundra, pavement and other waste land Woodland is declining rapidly and wasteland is increasing

The village allocates 83% of its fertilizers to 40% of the cropland that is own by the richest and best feed 270 people…. Excess fertilizer running of this land causes pollution in lakes and wells The remaining 60% of the land with 17% of the fertilizer, produces 28% of the food but feeds 73% of the people.

Employment… 5 soldiers 7 teachers 1 doctor 3 refuges driven out of their home from war

Yearly budget of 3 million ($3000 each if it were distributed evenly but it’s NOT… $181 000 goes to weapons and warfare $159 000 to education $132 000 to healthcare

The village has enough explosive power in nuclear weapons to blow itself to smithereens many times over These weapons are in the control of just 100 people The other 900 are watching with deep anxiety wondering whether they can learn to get along together or if they might set off the weapons through inattention or technical bungling Or if they ever decide to dismantle the weapons, where in the village will they dispose of the radioactive materials?

Think about it……..