As the world turns....interesting stats

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Saw this on a web site...

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing ratios remaining the same it would look something like the following:

There would be:

57 Asians

21 Europeans

14 from the western hemisphere, both north and south

8 would be Africans

52 would be female

48 would be male

70 would be non-white

30 would be white

70 would be non-christian

30 would be Christian

89 would be heterosexual

11 would be homosexual

6 people would posess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.

80 would live in sub-standard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from mal-nutrition

1 (only one) would have a college education

1 would own a computer

If you have money in the bank,in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy.

If you have food in the refigerator, clothes on your back, and a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 75 percent of this world.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 03, 2002

Answers

Very interesting Annie. I feel very, very rich. Thanks for sharing.

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), March 03, 2002.

Wow, what fascinating statistics, this really helps put a better perspective om our outlook on life, and makes me thankful for what we do have. We have so very much compared to the rest of our fellow Earthlings :-)!!!

Also makes me realize that being a non-Christian makes me a member of the majority when the rest of the world's population ia taken into account. There must be alot of Buddhists out there that I didn't realize, nice to feel that I am not "alone".

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), March 03, 2002.


interesting reading but... whose stats? the 11 percent homosexual statistic is highly debated with figures of 2~5 percent frequently stated. makes me wonder about the rest of the numbers. but over all I'm with cowgirllone in Ok. no flame intended.

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), March 03, 2002.

B. Lackie.

You are correct, it's less than 3%. Thought provoking nonetheless.

-- chuck in md (reply@mission4me.com), March 03, 2002.


Again, whose stats are being reported? World wide, US, or?? Annie's stats are for the Earth's population.

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), March 03, 2002.


yes, but my point was WHO is the master statistician recording the numbers? whether the numbers are purportedly worldwide or not.

- "lies, damn lies and statistics"

going to go read about chicken dust now...

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), March 03, 2002.


Well fellas, you've had me looking all over the internet for the info, but alas all I could find that was remotely close is there is a disagreement going on between the percentages. Some say as high as 10 percent, some as low as 2 percent. In reality, I found some countries don't even report their total populations unless it's from a large metropolitan area. And to accurately report a correct census based on lifestyle would be rather subjected anyhow. I don't know where the author of the web site I saw got their info, but if I ever find it, I'll let ya know. But for the record, I do know Chinas population and believe that percentage.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 03, 2002.

I have heard for years and years that roughly one in ten people are gay. I've seen gay people wearing this button: "one in ten of you is one of us." Love it!

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), March 03, 2002.

Being homosexual I believe the 10%is reality. The way I see it, we're just God's tithing to society.

-- laura (lauramleek@yahoo.com), March 03, 2002.

Do you mean to say that all the people would be 'purebreds'? No biracials, or multi-racials? Kind of like those forms where you can check onlly one square to define what ethnic background you have?

On another note, if only it were as easy as throwing 100 such people in a village together, I think things would improve a lot faster. As it is now, most Americans can simply pretend that others don't exist.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 04, 2002.



Annie Miller, You are not alone. We aren't Christian at this house either (not Buddhist).

Rebekah, I'm with you on on how folks forget the other populations.

However, if these folks were thrown all together, there would still be ones that that would tell the others how bad off they are, even if they were content to live that way, the guys with the big money would think they owned all they saw, and various religions would be trying to save the rest. That's why the UN, the term 'global village' and world government, doesn't really work in my book....

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), March 04, 2002.


The 10% homosexual figure which is widely quoted is from a study done by Kinsey, which is generally dismissed as inaccurate because of the methods he used (my college psychology text used it as an example of how NOT to run a survey). After Kinsey's death, the Kinsey Foundation re-ran the survey and came up with 1%. Virtually every other survey ever run has put the number between 1 and 3%, with the 1% surveys being criticized for using methods which tend to undercount, and the 3% surveys criticized for using methods which tend to overcount.

-- Steve - TX (steve.beckman@compaq.com), March 04, 2002.

I think these figures are probably roughly correct
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the western hemisphere, both north and south
8 would be Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
[depending on how you define what is white and non-white]
30 would be white
70 would be non-christian
30 would be Christian
1 (only one) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
The rest, however, are going to be harder to determine and seem to me to be subject to a great deal of interpretation.
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would posess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.

This figure I find particularly suspect. Does George Soros hold U.S. citizenship? I believe he's still one of the wealthiest men in the world. The Sultan of Brunei is also fabulously rich, as well as the royal families of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. I'd like to see some documentation of these claims.
80 would live in sub-standard housing
Sub-standard implies a standard. Whose standard is being used here? Is it fair to use modern day U.S. standards to compare the entire world to?
70 would be unable to read
Any language or just English? The global illiteracy rate is pretty appalling but I find it hard to believe that 70% of the entire global population is illiterate in the dominant language of their nation.
50 would suffer from mal-nutrition
Hmm, depending on how one defines malnutrition this could be the case.
If you have money in the bank,in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy.
This is pretty meaningless if you don't compare the value of each individual's money and their cost of living. The ten dollars in my pocket here in Gainesville, Florida will last longer here for me than it would in New York City and a great deal longer in a third world nation. Money is a measure of value and value is relative to the circumstances it finds itself in.
If you have food in the refigerator, clothes on your back, and a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 75 percent of this world.
How many people in the world own refrigerators? Refrigerators are major consumer appliances and they require an infrastructure, typically electrical power generation and distribution, to use. You'd have to look at how many nations have these things and what percentage of their population can both afford and want a refrigerator.
If what is meant by that statement is that if you have food at home, clothes on your back and a roof over your head then you are richer than 75% of the world I find that to be bunk. There's a lot of poverty (by American standards) in the world but food at home, clothing and a roof overhead to sleep under is hardly limited to just 25% of the global population.
........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), March 04, 2002.

examples of statistics/statements that make me wonder whose agendas are at play (a short list from many):

__________ (fill in the blank) children die every day due to gun violence.

__________ (fill in the blank) football fields of virgin rain forest disappear every hour.

__________ (fill in the blank) percent of the world's population consumes __________ (fill in the blank) percent of the world's resources.

thanks Annie for giving snowed in types like me something to yak about other than chicken dust.

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), March 04, 2002.


Another frozen in person who would like to enter in and really doesn't care to much for chicken dust :>)

I think Alan is very correct. I have been told that Haiti is (other than perhaps now Afganistan) the poorest country in the world. While I was there I didn't find these stats to be true. People at poverty level in very poor countries still have homes, food and clothing. Only the types would be different, as well as the amount of food. There are a lot of vague generalizations in these statistics........but IMHO that is usually the case with statistics.

Statistics only mean something to me if I know a great deal about who did the collection, what was the purpose of the collection and various other sundries.

I think actually the point of this little statistical gathering was to encourage people to be grateful........for which purpose we could all use it. :>)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), March 04, 2002.



Hi B. Lackie, glad this gave ya something to do on a cold day. I think this was the purpose of the site, is to make ya think and I know I have spent more time in the last day looking up stuff related to this on the web than ever before. Can't be a bad thing then, huh? Alan, the 6 people mentioned as wealthy would only possess 59 percent of the wealth, not 100 percent. That leaves 41 percent to the others and I'm sure wealthy Saudis and such would fit in the other percentage. The sub standard housing and money in the bank are, I'm pretty sure, taken as the viewpoint of an American reading this. Most yearly incomes in poor nations would probably add up to the 3 examples of money given. Along with the statement that mentioned a refrigerator. Something most of us, along with electricity, take for granted. The unable to read, I don't know. You can't imagine the people just in my county that fall into this category. Here in the United States where schooling is plentiful. If it's a problem here in this country, I'd say it would be in others. And as for gays, my brother is gay and no one has ever asked him this question, point blank, for a world statistic. The best fact I could find on how they determined the US gay population, was from the US census question on how many unmarried households. "They" think one-third are gay. I don't see how this could come close to being an accurate figure. Until there is a voluntary census taken among gays in the world, it's all speculation on both parts. But like Lackie said, it gives us all something to ponder on these winter days......

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 04, 2002.

I forget who it was that said, "Statistics are like a bikini - what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital."

-- Steve - TX (steve.beckman@compaq.com), March 04, 2002.

It doesn't surprise me at all, that on this board, the most dicussed statistic as being wrong is homosexuality. How sad. No one gives a rip about the rest of the stats, just NO WAY are there that many homos. Let me tell you, wether you admit it or not, the stat is WAY above 3%. I've been with people who were straight until the lights went out.

Been there done that.

-- none (noway@nothere.com), March 04, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ