Those of us who live in North America may not realize that we are among the richest of the world. What we don't know is suddenly put into perspective if the world were a village of 1000 people.

The majority and minorities of the worlds ethnic groups become clearer.
584 would be Asians, 123 would be African, 95 would be East and West Europeans, 84 would be Latin Americans, 55 would be Soviets, 52 would be North Americans, 6 would be Australians and New Zealanders.

The world would have trouble communicating with each other.
165 would speak Mandarin, 86 would speak English, 83 would speak Hindi/Urdu, 64 would speak Spanish, 58 would speak Russian, and 37 would speak Arabic. The other half speak Bengali, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese, German, French and 200 other languages (in descending order).

There would be 300 Christians, 175 Muslems, 128 Hindus, 55 Buddhists, 47 Animists and 210 of all other religions, including atheists.

A third of the people would be children. Only half of them will be properly immunized. 60 will be over the age of 65. Only about half of the married women will have access to and be using modern contraceptives. 28 babies will be born each year. 1 person will be infected with HIV.
Every year, 10 people will die, 3 of which die from lack of food and 1 from cancer. 2 of the deaths will occur to a baby before it turns 1.

Of the money within this community, 200 people will receive 75% of the income, while another 200 will receive only 2%.
Only 70 people will own a car.
Of the 670 adults, only half would be able to read.

If we shrink down the Earth to this size, each person would get 6 acres of land, creating a total of 6000 acres. Of these 6000 acres:
700 acres of cropland;
1400 acres of pasture;
1900 acres of woodland;
2000 acres of desert, tundra, pavement, and other wasteland.

83% of the fertilizer would be concentrated on 40% of the cropland owned by the top 270 people. The excess would run off and cause pollutants in lakes and wells. The other 60% of cropland would produce 28% of the food and feed 73% of the village.

About a third will not have access to clean, safe drinking water.


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But how much water does a SINGLE PERSON use in a day in North America?

Water covers 70.9% of Earth's surface, of which 97% is salt water and is therefore unusable. 2% are ice bergs, glaciers, ice caps.
Only 1% of the water on Earth is usable fresh water, needed for drinking, eating, processing etc. Unfortunately, a portion of this 1% of fresh water is unusable because it is unattainable (under water reservoirs), which leaves .33% of the Earth's water USABLE.