More Insight

Monday, September 17, 2007

Human Development Report

"It would take six billion dollars of additional yearly investment to ensure basic education in all developing countries; eight billion dollars a year are spent on cosmetics in the United States. It would take nine billion to ensure clean water and sanitation for all; 11 billion are spent on ice cream in Europe. It would take 13 billion dollars to guarantee basic health and nutrition for every person in the developing world; 17 billion are spent on pet food in Europe and the United States combined. It would take approximately an additional 40 billion dollars to achieve universal access to basic social services, 0.1 per cent of the world's income, a rounding error, would cover the bill for basic education, health, nutrition, clean water and sanitation for every single person on the planet. Yet currently, while the world's richest nations possess only one-fourth of the world's population, they consume 70 per cent of the world's energy, 75 per cent of its metals, 85 per cent of its wood and 60 per cent of its food."

Thanks to Elivo for putting it all together

1 comment:

DifferentiAtlas said...

What do these statistics say about our priorities as a society, about Western culture in general?
Even if the numbers are gross estimations, why are we not doing more already to reach that 40 billion dollar mark?
Why does the richest nation donate so little proportionally compared to other nations?