“The combined wealth of the world’s 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.†source 16
“Of all human rights failures today, those in economic and social areas affect by far the larger number and are the most widespread across the world’s nations and large numbers of people.†source 17
“Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.†source 18
According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.†That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year. source 19
For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings:
· Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries.
· Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years).
· Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades.
· Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization. source 20 Water problems affect half of humanity:
· Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
· Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
· More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
· Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%.
· 1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)
· Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea
· The loss of 443 million school days each year from water-related illness.
