If the World Were a Village

1. If the World Were a Village What if the world’s population was represented in a village of just one hundred people?

2. Why this book? • This book serves as a snapshot of the world we live in. • It informs us about many of the topics central to our study in global geography – diversity, education, wealth, health and access.

3. What the village would look like... • Of the 100 people... • 61 are from Asia • 14 are from Africa • 11 are from Europe • 8 are from South America, Central America (including Mexico) and the Caribbean • 5 are from Canada and the United States • 1 is from Oceania

4. Language • There are almost 6000 language in the world. In this village more than half of the people speak in just 8 languages. • 21 speak a Chinese dialect, 16 of them speak Mandarin • 9 speak English • 9 speak Hindi • 7 speak Spanish

5. Ages • One-fifth of the villagers would be under 9 years old. • More than half the village would be under the age of 30. Why? • On average 1 person would die every year, while 3 would be born.

6. Religions • 32 are Christians • 20 are Muslims • 14 are Hindus • 9 practice a folk religion • 6 are Buddhists • 2 belong to a global religion • 1 is Jewish

7. Food • 70 people do not have consistent access to food. • 50 of them are hungry some or all of the time. • 20 are severely undernourished. • 30 people always have enough to eat • Yet, the village has nearly 330 animals – 250 of which are chickens.

8. Sanitation • 83 have access to a source safe of water • 17 do not and must spend a significant portion of time in order to collect safe water • 57 have access to public or household sewage disposal • 32 breathe air that is unhealthy because of pollution

9. Literacy • Of the 38 school aged villagers only 31 attend school. • Of the 88 people old enough to read only 71 have some degree of literacy. 17 cannot read at all. More males are taught to read than females.

10. Wealth • If all the money were divided equally, each village would have about $11,500 Canadian dollars per year. • However, in this village the richest 10 people have over half the money. • The poorest ten each make about $1 a day • 75 of the people average about $4 a day • The average cost of living in this village is $5000 a year

11. The Village of the future • Most experts believe that the village can’t support more than 150 people (a world population of about 10 billion) • Could see the privatization of resources that we currently take for granted (such as water) • Some believe that the majority of our water systems would become highly polluted – even in the developed world.

12. What if Our Classroom was the Village? • None of us would be Canadian • Only 9 of us would be well nourished • 3 of us would make about a dollar a day • Approximately 18 of us would be from Asia • 9 of us would use 75% of the energy

13. What about the Money? • The richest 2 people would make about 65% of the income • The richest 6 would make just over 80% of all the income. They would all be from the United States • The other 24 would make approximately 28% of all the income • The poorest 6 would make just under 1.5% of all the income

14. What about Xenophobia, conflict and prejudice • 6 of you live in the fear of death by armed conflict, landmines, kidnapping or assault • Nearly half of you cannot speak or act freely according to your faith or conscience. Doing so could result in harassment, imprisonment, torture or death