Georgia Council on Economic Education w w w . g c e e . o r g

Perspective on the World Cultural Regions

Anglo AmericaLatin America

Europe (to the Urals)Asia

Middle East & North AfricaSub-Saharan Africa

Oceania

Anglo America

Latin America

Europe Asia

Middle East

AfricaOceania

Anglo America

Latin America

Europe

AsiaMiddleEast

AfricaOceania

Anglo America

Latin America

Europe Asia

Middle East

Africa

Oceania

If the World Were a VillageA Book About the World’s People

Written by

David J. Smith

Illustrated by

Shelagh Armstrong

Kids Can Press, 2002

Earth is a crowded place.

In 2002, there were 6,200,000,000 people on the earth.

Numbers this big are hard to understand…but if we imagine the world as a village of 100 people, each person in the

village would represent 62,000,000 people.

Let’s meet these 100 people.

Growth of the VillageIn 1000 B.C.E., 1 person lived in the village.

In 500 B.C.E., 2 people lived in the village.

In 1C.E., 3 people lived in the village.

In 1000, 5 people lived in the village.

In 1500, 8 people lived in the village.

In 1650, 10 people lived in the village.

In 1800, 17 people lived in the village.

In 1900, 32 people lived in the village.

In 2002, 100 people lived in the village.

Growth of the Village

At the current growth grate of about 1.6%

per year, the village will be home to 250

people by 2100.

Many experts believe that this is the

maximum number of people the village

can sustain.

Nationalities

Of the 100 people in the global village: 61 are from Asia 8 are from Latin America

13 are from Africa 5 are from Anglo America

12 are from Europe 1 is from Oceania

More than ½ of the people in the village come from the 10 most populous countries:

21 are from China

17 are from India

5 are from the United States

4 are from Indonesia

3 are from Brazil

3 are from Pakistan

2 are from Russia

2 are from Bangladesh

2 are from Japan

2 are from Nigeria

Nationalities

Ages10 people are under age 510 people are between 5 and 919 people are between 10 and 1916 people are between 20 and 2015 people are between 30 and 3911 people are between 40 and 49 9 people are between 50 and 59 6 people are between 60 and 69 3 people are between 70 and 79 1 person is over 79

• 1/5 of the village is under age 9

• 1 person dies and 3 babies are born every year

• Life expectancy is 63 years

Languages

More than ½ of the people speak these languages:

Chinese dialect – 22 people English – 9 people

Hindu – 8 people Spanish – 7 people

Arabic – 4 people Bengali – 4 people

Portuguese – 3 people Russian – 3 people

Religions

Of the 100 people in the village…– 32 are Christians– 19 are Muslims– 13 are Hindus– 12 practice folk religions (shamanism, animism)

– 6 are Buddhists– 2 practice Baha’i faith, Confucianism,

Shintoism, Sikhism or Jainism– 1 is Jewish– 15 are non-religious

Air and Water

Fresh Air and Drinkable Water are Necessities…

75 have access to safe water in their homes or within a short walk; 25 do not and must spend a large part of each day collecting water

60 have access to adequate sanitation; 40 do not

68 breathe clean air, while 32 breathe air that is unhealthy because of pollution

Food

There is plenty of food in the village:

31 sheep and goats23 cows, bulls, oxen15 pigs3 camels2 horses189 chickens

There is no shortage of food in the village. If all the food were divided equally, everyone would have enough food.

Food

However….

50 people do not have a reliable source of food and are hungry some or all of the time.

20 people are severely undernourished

30 people would have enough to eat