May 13, 2007
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Acceptance and Understanding
“If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human 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 Africans;
52 would be female, 48 would be male;
70 would be nonwhite, 30 would be white;
70 would be non-Christian, 30 would be Christian;
89 would be heterosexual, 11 would be homonsexual.
Six people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth . . . and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing;
70 would be unable to read;
50 would suffer from malnutrition.
One would be near death; One would be near birth.
One (yes, only one) would have a college education.
(One would own a computer (a year ago no one had a computer).How could the wealthy 6 live in peace with their neighbors? Surely, they would be driven to arm themselves against the other 94 . . . perhaps even to spend, as Americans do, about twice as much per person on military defense as the total income of two thirds of the villagers. When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.”
-Stanford professor Phillip Harter didn’t write this, but he found it so compelling that he sent it along to his friends.
And, courtesy of jollyjoker who brought it to my attention that it’s APA Heritage Month:
Comments (108)
ryc: could be better… but i’m hanging in there…. here’s to hoping.
have a good day with the mom today!
If Asians outnumber pretty much everybody else in that category, why can’t I find a good Chinese restaurant in Ventura County? Why not? Huh???? ha ha ha.
Have a great holiday, Alex.
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/populate.htm
pretty crazy numbers.
i think i’m gonna copy and paste that and read it over occasionally to remind myself what a messed up world we’ve created. :T
that’s an awesome analysis that gives a different insight at a global scale.
I am surprised to see how many can’t read and how many don’t have a college education.
I think 11% homosexualty is an inflated stat. It’s hard to conduct a good study, but estimates range from 1%-10%. So, 11% would be wayy on the high side…
That really made me think.
i agree with voyd on his comment. the number is surely inflated unless it is lumping those who are openly bisexual in with those who are homosexual (which really is not a good approximation of things).
what is interesting is the way wealth is spread. kind of makes you wonder how you can ever reach that 6 person eschelon – or rather, if its even worth it.
I wonder how many Chinese people would be there out of the 57? 30???
thanks for posting that.
wow that just showed me a lot I didnt know about this world.
and a lot of what I want to do to change it.
thanks for posting.
Makes you wonder why more hasn’t been done to help out the lower economic classes.
57 Asians eh?…that is insane O_O
I’ve heard those statistics before. It always makes me feel like, “Why me, God? Why have I been blessed with so, so much?”
Great post! Sure puts things into perspective.
Whats the song playing on your page btw?
omg awsome post and so true u seem way cool and involed btw i liked ur asian heritage month vid .. im not asain but i wish i was my sister in law calls me a mutant japanese acording to her (mihoko )im asain but my hairs wierd and i was born in the wrong country like i said awsome post amazing persective
Since only 30 can read, and 6 of them are weathy. That makes only 24 people that truely know exactly how wealthy those 6 people area. The other 70 are kept in the dark about how poor they are. Sounds like 6 executives, 24 managers, and 70 peons.
Works quite well. ^.^”
interesting…
That’s really depressing after what I am having to deal with today. Perhaps you can give me a little feedback on the predicament I just posted.
great video.. that actually moving. Props man!
Interesting post
how can one person be near birth?
As of right now, I see there is a growing number of Hispanic and Blacks in our human race population. They are like rabbits. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t had said that. Anyway, my point was maybe you should reconsider modify your model of the human ratio to be a little bite more accurate. Other than that you have a very interesting blog.
You should really consider using stats that are backed up by SOMETHING…
http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2001/05/email2.html
I really don’t think we could divide billions of people into roughfully 100-1000 people. Who would run this new country? Would all the plant life and the many forest life that man kind has torn down will all that be back? Would all the animals that are gone or going to be disappeared going to be back?
The stats from the computers and education are greatly, greatly watered down by the overpopulated and underdeveloped countries. I think that analysis shows how blessed we (Americans–I don’t know where you are from, but I am from America) are to live where we do, and to be able to take advantage of so many opportunities provided to us. Just a thought.
very interesting ;]
This is bull. All things being real, with one hundred people in a single village there is no way the six people controling 59% of the world’s resource would be able to maintain that. The resources well dwell to a more manageable level at 50/50. No one would own a computer, why would that one person want to own a computer?? See the fallacy in this?? The percentage against non-christians and homosexuality are so overwelhm tha t with these small populations, the might be obsolete. Obviously, the author is trying to make a point on societies ills today; but to do in this manner limits the ideals in a world in which we think we understand and our focus is shifted in err without all the facts.
And that is where geography becomes a great ally. When you don’t have to actually *face* all those poor, malnourished people, us rich Americans can just party on and pretend like we’re living a decent and honest life!
(I’m being a bit sarcastic, but I also realize this is partially true. I’m currently living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and paid $20 for my lunch today. There’s absolutely no reason why my husband and I should have the wealth we have.)
So basically, out of 100 people: 94 hate us. But the real question is, “How many of that 94 will do something about it?” We’re not going to change our policy. We’re dominating so why should we relent to others? Its sad, but our citizens won’t give up their cars, computers, or cash to other less-fortunate people somewhere else. It’d be nice if we did, but sadly we don’t.
People, look up the Snopes linked in these comments.
How many people would be apathetic? How can we expect the world to change if we are just sitting here on our asses doing nothing?
i’ve heard some idea like this in a sociology class i took. it definitely lets you know how where you live isn’t necessarily a full view of the entire world…
What a good way to put things into perspective. I think people only concern themselves with what’s directly around them, and fail to see that what we do in one country has an effect on the rest of the world. Especially with free trade economies, and the way we use the environment.
-Amber
Where are all the corrupt governments that are keeping those 40 or so people starving? Where is the neighborhood cost of living factors? Wanna know why we spend so much more? So we can kill those 10 or so buggers that keep trying to steal what little the other people have, or ethnically cleanse out the ones they don’t like.
Education, acceptance, and understanding won’t teach Kim Jong Il the right way to treat his people.
good point…
The urban legend semi-debunking asdfkim posted on this is a good read, too. Thanks for sharing the youtube vid. Gotta love Beau Sia.
I remember seeing these statistics before…
And about the homosexual percentage versus the heterosexual percentage… looks like someone who was completely oblivious to the fact that not very many homosexuals (or bisexuals for that matter) would actually openly admit their homosexuality/bisexuality. So how the statistics were formed dealing with people’s sexuality (due to a survey of the world?) is entirely incorrect. Also, the media only portrays heterosexuality… but that doesn’t mean most people shift into that direction. Some people may never admit they have feelings for those of their gender… So how would a world-class survey know the proper statistics? By saying only 11% are homosexuals, the entire population is not accounted for, nor could ever be accounted for, because some may deny that they are homosexual or bisexual instead of telling the truth, due to fear of feedback from their peers, friends, family, etc.
That’s really just numbers, though. If there only was 100 people in the world, I’m sure those statistics would be quite different. All that’s doing is shrinking down numbers. For example, I’m sure if you took 100 people from one square mile, anywhere in the world, they would be largely the same, not different.
squallfire, all this is is taking percents and changing them to actual numbers. (i.e. 57% of the world is Asians, etc.) Calm down.
52 females and 48 males… I wonder if i’d be one for the four females who won’t have a male partner… hahaha! Where did you get these figures? Its very interesting.
If you had a specific proposal that a random Korean guy could effectively communicate to a Specific Korean Leader at the United Nations, you may get somewhere with it.
We seem to have have the patience for it, but Planting trees is a partial solution to Global Warming Ignorance, but it is only partial. The work of Planktos – see http://planktos.com - in also partial, but we seem to like arguing and fighting too much.
We enjoy the blame game too much to turn away from it…
Thanks for posting this up.
I’ve seen something similar to this a few times. I think one was from something I read by K P Yohannan. I try to remind my kids (and myself) of these kinds of things when they complain about not having as much as other kids they know.
I’ve seen this one before. I find it interesting how the high proportion of nonwhites to whites are prompting some racist responses, such as “findingliberty”‘s. I suppose that ratio threatens some people.
the statistics eye-opening and it really makes me grateful for everything that i have now and that i am going to have in the future.
wow, that’s pretty deep.
wow lol i wonder how long it took to figure this all out. But thats really sad acutally..the statistics i mean. I had no idea so few people could read, (out of the entire world) and i had absolutely no idea that so many would be malnutritioned. We need to get some of this stuff fixed, pronto.
according to your numbers only one in 6 americans has a college education and thats also saying that no one else in the world would have one while much of europe is college educated not to mention all of asia africa and australia south america etc. ID like to know where these numbers came from
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ok even if some of the numbers are wrong as i am finding out a lot of them are. The massive inequality still remains….
I’ve heard those statistics before several times. Although, every time I do, I feel better about myself.
I think all of the asian people are really good people and they always talk in Chinese and sometimes in Vietnamese and also sometimes in Japanese too also ! I also think that American should be nice to all of the Asian people and be friendly to them too also because I don’t really want to see any American people have a fight with an asian people neither cause if all asian people should be nice and behave to themselves then all the American people will do the same things as the Asian people does always forever and ever! Asian people and American don’t have to argue or get into a really bad fight in a war or something like that! they sometimes had to be nice and behave themselves so that they will know that everything will be ok and let these people be happy to themselves too and also enjoy themselves let their feeling be normal and ok and they could be laughing and smile to themselves and also most important thing was that getting their life be fun and joyful too ! I am so glad and happy that I’d always be nice to the america people and my own american friends and family too ! I can’t let my own friends be getting mad at me and that goes to my own american boyfriend too he always gonna be nice to me and then I’ll definitely be more happier and more nice to my own american boyfriend back again forever and I’d always love my american boyfriend forever too!
Seems logical……except we forgot that the Christians could possibly convert the non-Christians. lol So the numbers are subjective. I’m not sure I understand the concept of the statistics, but it’s interesting enough to dote on. =)
I think its because china has one of the larger/ higher populations in the world explaining the high rate of asians….
free market economy. end tarifs and taxes for people outsourcing. this would encourage factories to be moved to poorer counrties, giving them more money.
That was very thought-provoking, thank you.
Yes, there’s no way 11% of humanity practices homosexuality. I’m guessing but it’s got to be more like 1% or less.
very compelling. sigh =/ if only we all treated each other they way Jesus commanded…that we love one another and treat each other the way we would want to be treated; there would barely be any problems at all. we’d all go above and beyond to be fair, generous, conscientious of our environment/others, loving, kind, forgiving, etc.
kind of sad isnt it?…. :T
human greed is a dangerous weapon.
didn’t know there were so many asians.
I find that citing unsubstantiated statistics is alarmist and irresponsible. I am also not surprised to see that a Stanford University professor would propagate such alarmist tripe.
alarmist tripe?
Tripe yes but why is it alarmist. Yeah the homosexual numbers are way off, the highest number I have ever seen was 10%. And that was the Kinsey study, which has basically been disproved. the highest i have seen that is well thought of is 6%, but that is the highest number, all the others are lower still.
I have yet to understand what is so “alarming” about basic demographics. even the homosexual numbers are what they are and are nothing to fear. Despite the fact that they are lied about and have become political.
You run a nice site
WOW omG thats So cool! This should be in the papers OMG OMG
AH HA.
To many fucken Asians
Thanks for crayon Shin Chan tho.
Fist the blacks got a month and now the Asians Good thing white people have the other 10 months
What about the beaners, eh?
Don’t forget the brown people!
I highly doubt we could simplify billions of people into a 100…but really cool thought…Would the 6 be white?! Would they? We MUST know! Or Asian…Heh.
[kat]
My math class took the stats from that and made a new “world” from National Geographic pictures.
That hit me pretty hard. Great post.
Makes you think, doesn’t it.
The 10% gay figure comes from the Kinsey Report on male sexuality from the 1940s. Abraham Maslow warned Kinsey that if he solicited for information, rather than take a random sampling, he would get skewed data. Kinsey’s response was to break off their friendship and cut Maslow out of his life. Rather than just solicit for responses, though, Kinsey actively sought responses from people outside the norm, in order to deliberately skew the data. He was a pioneer for mainstreaming sexual behaviors that at that time were considered deviant. More recent surveys from both here and in Europe indicate that the percentage of gays is actually about 1.5% among males and .7% among females. Even Kinsey’s 10% figure included those solicited respondents who’d had any homosexual thoughts or experimentation during childhood, not merely those who considered themselves exclusively homosexual. Dr. Judith Reisman has written an excellent book on Dr. Kinsey’s research. ISBN I-56384-057-X .
I find it ironic that even though 6 people from the US own some high % of the money yet only one person has a college education and one other perons owns a computer. I guess im not following how these 6 can own so much yet eithor 0 or 1 of them has an education and eithor 0, a different one, or the educated one owns a computer between them.
APA Month Woot! Very interesting look at the world. How imbalanced we are in some respects.
pretty interesting stats back there.
hmm. wow this really made me think again.
so sad that this is what the world’s become :/
cool stuff man, the data is a bit outdated though, here’s the actual one:
http://www.100people.org/statistics_100stats.php
numbers might be a bit off, but the basic idea is still the same. Thats really interesting.
::insert a dozen racist jokes::
sry, i had 2 do it. =X
It depends on the circumstances which put so few people in one place, whether they would arm themselves against each other, or not. If there were that few people, I would give half of my supper to my malnourished friend.
Hmmm good post. Let me ask you one question: what are YOU doing to change YOUR world?
I actually read that from a textbook a couple years back. After rereading it again.. it did shock me again. It’s a real eyeopener. Thanks for sharing =)
too many variables at work…
but, nonetheless, still interesting.
nice counting! i’m not any good at math…luck you.
but hey, i got the meaning of your entry. really interesting….but as i imagine it….
it scares me. really.
Beau Sia, great spoken word artist.
Nice post!
i guess we have some work to do then dont we?
…but everyone talks about needing to do it.. and never sells what they have to go somewhere to do it themselves. (well, i know a few, but it is few and far between…)
its all talk and “what if’s”
some of the comments here are completely remedial. all that aside, all 6 of the hyperelites (in your 100 person world) would then be Western European White Male and Heterosexual. Furthermore, I think that in those numbers, many ethnicities were lumped in with whites (such as latinos–which in itself is an all encompassing term). But the 6 remain the same. I think that all 6 would also be Christian, but I suppose they could be atheist or agnostic. From the soap box: white male privilege defined in a way that everyone can understand. And NO ONE is deserving of that kind of privilege. But EVERYONE would fight to protect it.
these statistics are actually slightly outdated; i’ve had them on my refridgerator door for about five years..
Cool way of analizing the world’s population.
However, I have read that for various reasons, the amount of homosexuals is overestimated.
I don’t know you, but I can tell you right now that there is no utopia (like you’re describing). what you’re describing is a totalitarian government–and uh….yeah. most people don’t enjoy the thought of a controlled commune.
i really like the video.
and the numbers really made me think!
hey, i like your blog..it’s so educating and enlightening… :~{#)~}
I doubt that many people would be gay.
This makes a lot of sense(even though i saw a different version with a few differences in numbers). And I have one thing to say: “Heaven just ain’t on earth” as the thespian said to the cleric.
random is cool!(and I know how wierd that may sound comming from me lol)
very interesting…
cheers man.
Wow…that’s quite interesting…. I didn’t know there’d be so little college educated people..
Not to sound like a dick- but I just want to say- what’s the point in saying “if you have money you obviously have power so you need to feel guilty”? And I’m only harping on that b/c no matter how compelling something might sound, compelling lit is often traced with the underlying theme of anger, just something I’ve learned over the years from my writing classes. There IS something in saying “you have great power, do something with you influence” but to say you should feel guilty b/c of where you were born that’s silly, wealth isn’t necessarily power.
Nonetheless- I enjoyed it- there is some truth to it- Plus isn’t this old? I’m pretty sure this was in net circulation several years ago.
I didn’t read the whole stats… I remember the saying, $ doesn’t bring happiness; I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be rich/unhappy than poor and VERY unhappy! Perhaps the “variables” that make those six people the wealthiest in the village are what their country, the GREAT USA offers, freedom and democracry … Poverty, corruption, dictatorship, terrorism (new word) … are the variables that make the village’s 94 people less fortunate. If the professor wants to humiliate his own capitalist country, what a shame! Perhaps he can move to another country and leave room/hope for the millions of illegal immigrants to reside in this land of milk and honey and it’s a huge melting pot!
I feel better now!
Origins: This
thing has been circulating for ages (in Internet time) now, and people seem to find the contrasts it highlights between the “haves” and “have-nots” of the world compelling. However, much of the information it presents is questionable, out of date, or poorly-defined:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
According to the United Nations World Population Prospects document, the world population in the year 2000 was about 6.1 billion, with this geographic distribution:
* Africa: 794,000,000
* Asia: 3,672,000,000
* Latin America and Caribbean: 519,000,000
* Europe: 727,000,000
* North America: 314,000,000
* Oceania: 51,000,000
If we calculate the corresponding percentages (and lump North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania into the “western hemisphere” category), we get the following ratios for our population of 100:
* Asians: 60
* Europeans: 12
* Western Hemisphereans: 15
(9 Latin Americans/Caribbeans, 5 North Americans, 1 Oceanian)
* Africans: 13
52 would be female
48 would be male
According to that same United Nations document, the world population in the year 2000 consisted of 3,051,099,000 men and 3,005,616,000 women, which (with a little rounding) breaks down to 50 men and 50 women in a population of 100.
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
Here we run into definitional problems trying to lump entire continents’ worth of people into one class based on some nebulous concept of color. What makes a person “white” or “black”? If we say that Africans are considered “black,” does that categorization apply equally to Nigerians, Egyptians, and South Africans? (Is the Middle East part of Africa or Asia?) Should the classification of Asians as “white” or “non-white” be based solely upon skin tone, or upon geographical and cultural factors as well?
The numbers given here seem to be based upon the classification of Europeans and Western Hemisphereans as “white” and Africans and Asians as “non-white” (and the assumption that those continents are homogeneous in racial composition). With those qualfications, a population of 100 (based on year 2000 numbers) would include 27 whites and 73 non-whites.
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
According to the chart at Adherents.com, which provides estimates of “the number of people who have at least a minimal level of self-identification as adherents” of a particular religion, the world’s population in early 2001 was 33% Christian. So, our reduced population of 100 would be composed of 33 Christians and 67 non-Christians.
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
This one is almost impossible to estimate with any reasonable degree of accuracy. The classification of people as being either “heterosexual” or “homosexual” is too dependent upon subjective criteria, and the answers of respondents to surveys about their sexual habits are too easily influenced by other social factors. The common figure of “10% of the population is homosexual” is often bandied about, but that number is derived from a misapplication of a Kinsey study which was not based upon a representative sample of the population. One can find estimates that place of the percentage of the population considered to be homosexual anywhere between 1-2% and 25%-35%, but a reasonable survey of the more controlled studies would put the figure in about the 2-3% range (for males, at least).
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth, and all 6 would be from the United States.
This claim demonstrates the precariousness of trying to summarize a very large, diverse population in a few simple statistics. For starters, our miniature world of 100 people only includes 5 people from all of North America, so any statement involving 6 people from the United States just doesn’t compute!
“Wealth” is a concept difficult to measure with any precision, but we can use Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a reasonable approximation. If we take some figures from the CIA’s World Factbook 2000, we find that the estimated GDP of the United States in 1999 was $9.255 trillion, out of a world total of $40.7 trillion. In other words, in 1999 the United States possessed about 23% of the world’s wealth. If we assume that all 5 North Americans in our miniature world are from the United States, and that they have inherited an amount of wealth proportional to that held by the United States in the “real” world, together they’d still have only 23% of the world’s wealth, not 59%. Even if you could find some combination of 6 people in our putative population of 100 who held 59% of the total wealth, they wouldn’t all be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
This statement can’t be assessed without knowing the definition of “substandard” being employed here. “Substandard” by whose standards? And if a full 80% of the world’s population truly lives in “substandard” housing, doesn’t that indicate whatever standard is being used must be too high?
Estimates for this figure are all over the map as well (some United Nations housing statistics are informative but don’t really answer the question), but a 1999 article in International Wildlife puts the estimate at 33%, not the 80% figure offered here.
70 would be unable to read
A 1998 UNICEF study put the world illiteracy rate at 16%, well short of the 70% claimed here.
50 would suffer from malnutrition
The World Health Organization puts the malnutrition figure at about 33%.
1 would be near death
1 would be near birth
This statement is simply too vague to evaluate. At any given time, one person in a hundred is near death? Just how “near”? Is age a factor in this statistic?
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
Again, we have to know whether our miniature world’s inhabitants represent current population trends in age as well as other factors. According to the United Nations World Population Prospects document, the median age of the world’s population was 26.5 in 2000, with that figure being lower in less developed (and more populous) areas of the world. (The median age of Africans, for example, was only 18.4 in 2000.) So, this statistic could be true simply because much of our miniature population would be too young to have finished college yet (assuming that “having a college education” means “graduated with the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree”). However, if we assume everyone in our miniature world is of sufficient age and apply the current graduation rates of the USA (33%) to its share of the population (5), we’d have almost two college graduates from America alone. And other parts of the world (e.g., New Zealand, Netherlands, Britain, and Norway) have graduation rates equal to or higher than the USA’s.
1 would own a computer
Computer ownership rates in the USA now indicate that over 50% of American households have computers, so if we assume that “households” can be equated with “people” in our miniature world, our 5 Americans alone would have at least two computers between them.
On the other hand, if this is the kind of material having a computer gives one access to, the inhabitants of our miniature world just might opt to do without them.
-from snopes
What populations are you deriving your hypothetical village from? Is it from the entire earth or just America? Because I have a hard time believing that would be the correct break down. Besides the point…Even if the earth could be broken down into roughly 100 people I still think there would be problems with tolerance.That’s just how jaded our world has become due to a minority of people on this earth.
wow just wow, so tru my friend
wow just wow, so tru my friend
the heterosexual would be outnumber by various forms of queer .
Someone’s famous!
Interesting statistics, where’d you get them from?
Whoa~ 70% of the Earth’s population is illeterate?!
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