Global Geography Unit 1: Human connections to the Earth

Global Inequalities  Of the world's six billion people, 1.2 billion live in extreme poverty, or on an income of roughly US $1 a day or less. Just under 3 billion people live on $2 a day or less.  Industrialized countries, with 19 per cent of the world's population, account for 71% of global trade in goods and services, 58 per cent of foreign direct investment, and 91% of all Internet users.

Global Inequalities  The world's 200 richest people more than doubled their net worth in the four years before 1998, to more than $1 trillion.  The assets of the top three billionaires total more than the combined GNP of all the least developed countries with their 600 million people.

Global Inequalities: Poverty  Most of us live in comfort and security, but over one-fifth of the world’s population lives in poverty.  Around the world poverty appears when people are not able to achieve the standard of living that is usual for their society.

Poverty  Today, standards of living vary greatly among nations; however, the effects of poverty remain constant:  Hunger  Homelessness  lack of education  and lack of resources to fulfill basic human needs.

Poverty  Poverty is not only having no money. For those in developing countries it also is not having the materials and resources to fulfill their basic needs.  A person can be poor when they don’t have access to employment and basic healthcare, education and essentials like food, clothing and water.

Issues of Poverty  Food is a basic necessity. Those who are fortunate try to eat three square meals a day; however, over 840 million people around the world go hungry every day.  More than half a billion people are undernourished. They do not get enough vitamins and minerals from the food that they eat to stay healthy.

Issues of Poverty  Hunger also kills.  Every day 34,000 children under age five die from hunger and related causes.  Most of the people who are hungry do not have enough money to purchase the food they need.

 The poorest and most food-insecure people live in Africa, while the largest number of continually undernourished people live in the Asia-Pacific region.  Hunger remains especially severe in South Asia, where growing poverty, debt, economic decline, poor terms of trade, fast population growth, unfavorable weather, war, and government collapse have all contributed to the continent’s food problems.

 Hunger is also an environmental problem with fresh water, land, forests, and fisheries continually being used at or beyond capacity.  War is also a cause for hunger. War slows or stops food production and marketing.

 Food supplies are often taken and used as instruments of war, crop cycles are interrupted, seeds and breeding livestock are consumed in desperation, and children suffer lasting damage as a result of insufficient food.  Even if fighting never occurs, heavy military spending depletes resources away from food production, education, and health care