Unit 1 - Worldview

The world population has now reached 7 billion people. This milestone inspired us to conduct research to update our statistics, and the changes over the past 5 years are remarkable. In 2006, only 1 person out of 100 would have had a college education-- today that number has jumped to 7 thanks in part to advances in higher education in Asia. The detailed research and source information can be found here and the statistics provided by Donella Meadows in 1990 that originally inspired our project can be viewed here.

If the World were 100 PEOPLE:

50 would be female

50 would be male

26 would be children

There would be 74 adults,

8 of whom would be 65 and older

There would be:

60 Asians

15 Africans

14 people from the Americas

11 Europeans

33 Christians

22 Muslims

14 Hindus

7 Buddhists

12 people who practice other religions

12 people who would not be aligned with a religion

12 would speak Chinese

5 would speak Spanish

5 would speak English

3 would speak Arabic

3 would speak Hindi

3 would speak Bengali

3 would speak Portuguese

2 would speak Russian

2 would speak Japanese

62 would speak other languages

83 would be able to read and write; 17 would not

7 would have a college degree

22 would own or share a computer

77 people would have a place to shelter them

from the wind and the rain, but 23 would not

1 would be dying of starvation

15 would be undernourished

21 would be overweight

87 would have access to safe drinking water

13 people would have no clean, safe water to drink

Sources: 2012 - Fritz Erickson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ferris State University (Formerly Dean of Professional and Graduate Studies, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay) and John A. Vonk, University of Northern Colorado, 2006; Returning Peace Corps Volunteers of Madison Wisconsin, Unheard Voices: Celebrating Cultures from the Developing World, 1992; Donella H. Meadows, The Global Citizen, May 31, 1990.