1. Something To Think About
If the world were a village…

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

9. About 1/3 have access to clean drinking water

10. Of the 670 adults in the village ½ are illiterate

11. 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

12. 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.

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

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

15. 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?

16. Think about it……..