Global poverty facts and statistics

From my perspective here in Seattle, it's hard to really grasp what a devastating impact poverty has on much of the world. It's hard to even grasp what poverty even means for much of the world's population.

Here is a page from the UN Millenium Project with some poverty facts and figures. Obviously it doesn't paint a picture of the actual day to day reality people face, but it does put it in a big picture perspective.

For example...

• Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.
• More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day...300 million are children.
• Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.
• More than 2.6 billion people-over 40 per cent of the world's population-do not have basic sanitation, and more than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water.

I can look at the numbers, but somehow I can't truly wrap my brain around them. I suppose it's an emotional self-defense mechanism of sorts.

Regardless of whether or not I can really comprehend it, as I sit here in my economic ivory tower, it's good to have some kind of reality check on what's really going on in much of the world. It's too easy to get complacent.

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