What a crazy – but improving – world
- The richest 225 people in the world earn the same as the poorest 2.7 billion or some 40% of humanity.
- The annual takings of criminal gangs around the world are roughly equal to Britain’s GDP or twice the world’s combined defence budgets.
- Up to 27 million people are held in slavery which is more than at the peak of the African slave trade.
- Violence against women by men causes more casualties than wars with one in five women a victim of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime.
- Up to 15 million children worldwide have been orphaned through AIDS.
And yet the survey from which these stark facts are taken finds that, for most people, the world is becoming “a better place”, and should continue to improve over the next decade, with generally rising incomes, life expectancy and access to health and education.
The global economy grew by 5.4% in 2006, far outstripping population growth of just over 1%. “At this rate, world poverty will be cut by more than half between 2000 and 2015, meeting the UN millennium development goal for poverty reduction, except in sub-Saharan Africa,” it predicts.
According to the WHO, the world’s average life expectancy is expected to increase, from 48 years for those born in 1955, to 73 years for those born in 2025.
So where does this report come from? It is the “State Of The Future 2007” survey by the World Federation of United Nations Associations. More information on the main messages here.