It's a Small World After All...

This reading was posted on the Guiding Mailing List by Kristen Byrnes of the 8th Kingston Guides. I liked it so much I thought I would post it here for all to share!

What would happen if we could shrink the Earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people? With all existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this:

        There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere (North and South) and 8 Africans.

        51 would be female; 49 would be male.

        70 would be non-white; 30 white.

        70 would be non-Christian; 30 Christian.

        50% of the entire world's wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people and all 6 would be citizens of the United States.

        80 would live in substandard housing.

        70 would be unable to read.

        50 would suffer from malnutrition.

        1 would be near death, 1 would be near birth.

        Only 1 would have a college education.

        No one would own a computer.

When one considers our world from such an incredibly compressed perspective, the need for both tolerance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent.

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