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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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