# A SUMMARY OF THE WORLD **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143 "2000-04-13T20:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curious\_george](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b487fb/32.png) [@curious\_george](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious_george)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/1 "2000-04-13T20:55:00Z")
If we could, at one time, shrink the Earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this: ``` · There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere (North and South), and 8 Africans. · 70 would be non-white, 30 white. · 70 would be non-Christian, 30 Christian. · 50 percent of the entire world's wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people. All 6 would be citizens of the United States. · 70 would be unable to read. · 50 would suffer from malnutrition. · 80 would live in sub-standard housing. · Only one would have a college education. ``` I guess I am lucky to be an American with a college degree. ---
**Author:** ![rubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@rubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rubes)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/2 "2000-04-13T21:20:00Z")
where did you get this info? Very interesting stuff. * * * Nothing is so bad that it can’t get worse. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/3 "2000-04-13T21:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > · 50 percent of the entire world’s wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people. All 6 would be citizens of the United States. As a swiss citizen, I lodge a formal protest. Our banks are chock-full of gold. Remember Uncle Scrooge’s house? That’s what a swiss bank looks like. ---
**Author:** ![SkySlash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SkySlash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkySlash)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/4 "2000-04-13T21:25:00Z")
I’d be the one with the College Education, and one of the six with the majority of the World’s wealth. -SS 😃 * * * Lazy bastards always make it easier for the lazier bastards to get special treatment for being useless…how else do you explain American law? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/5 "2000-04-13T21:29:00Z")
By the way, for those of you unfamiliar with Scrooge McDuck’s vault, you can find a painting of it [here](http://www.sleeping-beauty-prints.com/carl_barks.htm). Scroll down until you see the picture “Rich Finds at Inventory Time”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/6 "2000-04-14T05:56:00Z")
> [@](#): > > There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere (North and South), and 8 Africans. 21 Europeans and 8 Africans? My most recent figures are from 1996, but I’ve got Europe’s population at 507,000,000 and Africa’s at 731,000,000. Granted the European figure exluded the 293,000,000 population of the former Soviet Union, but many of those are Asians, and even including all of them would barely bring Europe’s total higher than Africa’s. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/7 "2000-04-14T13:19:00Z")
Would someone please re-calculate all these figures and do it correctly this time? curious george is apparently quoting from possibly old and certainly inaccurate figures. 731 million / 6 billion is about .12, so that’s 12 Africans in the group. About 270 million / 6 billion is about 4.5, so that’s 4 or 5 Americans in the group. ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/8 "2000-04-14T13:56:00Z")
I’ve seen that email floating around, and the numbers just don’t add up on all fronts. Especially the population ones. My data says in 1998 there were almost 750m Africans, 730m Europeans (300m E. Europeans). The money ones look like they came from some equity market report- and worldwide the US does make up almost half of the market. According to MSCI Market Value (US$) figures for Feb. 29, 2000 it looks like this: World: $21 trillion ex-USA: $11.6 trillion USA: $9.38 trillion (#1) Japan: $2.6 trillion (#2) Switzerland: $0.5 trillion Nice try though. I wonder what the real figures would look like, and how much rounding would have to be done. Maybe 100 is too ambitious- how about 1,000? ---
**Author:** ![curious\_george](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b487fb/32.png) [@curious\_george](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious_george)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/9 "2000-04-14T14:58:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by rubes: > where did you get this info? Very interesting stuff. I’ve gotten it several times as an email, most recently from a co-worker. I agree the numbers look fishy. I will investigate it and see what Snopes and The Mining Co say about it. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/10 "2000-04-14T15:49:00Z")
It’s an interesting project and I hate to pour cold water on it, but the figures are way off. > [@](#): > > There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the > Western Hemisphere (North and South), and 8 Africans. The percentage of the world’s population in each region is as follows: Europe (including Russian Federation) = 12.0% US, Canada, Australia & NZ = 5.5% Latin America = 8.6% Asia (including Pacific Islands) = 60.9% Africa = 13.0% Source: _World Population Prospectus: The 1998 Revision,_ United Nations, 1999 [cited in McNicoll G, _Population Weights in the International Order,_ Policy Research Division Paper No. 126, Population Council, 1999. > [@](#): > > 70 would be non-white, 30 white. Depends how you define “white”, but if we assume that the vast majority (\>90%) of the Africans and Asians, a sizeable proportion of the Latin Americans (\>40%) and a significant minority of the rest are “non-white”, it is closer to 80/20. > [@](#): > > 50 percent of the entire world’s wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people. All 6 would be citizens of the United States. As we have seen, there wouldn’t _be_ six US citizens. The US’s per capita GDP is the highest in the world (US$29,000 in 1996) but an awful lot of European and Asian countries are very close (US$ 25,000 +). > [@](#): > > 70 would be unable to read. I’m sure this is way too high. A glance at the UNESCO Illiteracy Database at January 1999 suggests that there are only about 20 countries in which the adult illiteracy rate among women is greater than or equal to 70% and only one or two in which the adult men’s illiteracy rate is greater than or equal to 70%. They are mostly small, African countries. Even in the poorest countries (e.g. Chad) it is unusual for the rate to exceed 40% among men and 60% among women. > [@](#): > > 80 would live in sub-standard housing. > Only one would have a college education. “Sub-standard housing” is not defined. Likewise, the significance of a “college education” is not clear. There is no international standardisation of educational qualifications. It is entirely possible (and indeed likely) that some countries’ high-school graduates are better educated than other countries’ college graduates. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/11 "2000-04-15T05:46:00Z")
TomH: > [@](#): > > Depends how you define “white”, but if we assume that the vast majority (\>90%) of the Africans and Asians, a sizeable proportion of the Latin Americans (\>40%) and a significant minority of the rest are “non-white”, it is closer to 80/20. I’d guess that Indians, Pakistanis, Iranis Arabs and all Russians are counted as “white” in this figuring (despite the darkish complexion of many of them). Sort of like they are in the US Census racial categories. Since Indians make up 20% of the world’s population, that’s got to be a sizable number of whites right there. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@kozmo.com](mailto:ckeller@kozmo.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![curious\_george](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b487fb/32.png) [@curious\_george](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious_george)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/12 "2000-04-14T22:32:00Z")
I haven’t found anything about this at Snopes or the Mining Co. However, it does not cite a source other than email forwards, so I don’t think it is factual. Also, as we have pointed out, some of the pops and percentages do not seem correct. How can you determine things like white, Christian, college education, sub standard housing? Those are all open to interpretation. Also, it says 30% white, Christian, and literate. It seems unlikely that the percentage would be identical for all three. Also, note how most the percentages are in terms of 10% intervals. Looks like they were made up. Sorry, I didn’t know this email was so bogus. It’s interesting analysis though. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/13 "2000-04-15T04:21:00Z")
Well, other than the fact that I need to buy a more recent almanac, here’s an attempt at some figures: In a village of 100 people: You’d have 21 Chinese, 16 Indians, 5 Americans (US), 4 Indonesians, 3 Brazilians, 3 Russians, 2 Pakistanis, 2 Japanese, 2 Bangladeshis, 2 Nigerians, 2 Mexicans, 1 German, 1 Filipino, 1 Vietnamese, 1 Iranian, 1 Egyptian, 1 Turk, 1 Thai, 1 Briton, 1 Frenchman, 1 Italian, 1 Ethiopian, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Zairian, 1 South Korean, 1 South African, 1 Spainard, 1 Pole, 1 Columbian, 1 Argentinian, 1 Sudanese, 1 Moroccan, 1 Algerian, 1 Tanzanian, 1 Canadian, 1 Kenyan, and 13 other nationalities. You would have 34 Christians (17 Roman Catholics, 8 Protestants, 4 Orthodox, 5 other Christians), 19 Muslims (16 Sunnites, 3 Shi’ites), 14 Hindus, 6 Buddhists (3 Mahayana, 2 Theravada, 1 other Buddhist), 4 Confucian-Taoists, 2 “New Religionists”, 2 “Ethnic Religionists”, and 19 non-believers. Surprisingly, all the other religions of the world, including Judaism, Sikhism, Jainism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, and Baha’ism, contain less than 1 percent of the world’s population combined. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/14 "2000-04-15T06:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > You would have 34 Christians (17 Roman Catholics, 8 Protestants, 4 Orthodox, 5 other Christians), 19 Muslims (16 Sunnites, 3 Shi’ites) I don’t believe that one. If I remember correctly, there are 1.6 billion Christians and 1 billion Muslims, so I don’t think that the difference would be that large. I’ll do some research. BTW, CMKeller mentioned Iranian Arabs - Iranians aren’t Arabs at all. What an Arab is is loosely defined, but it is generally agreed that they should at least speak Arabic, and Iranians speak Persian/Farsi. Iranians tend to trace their ethnic roots to the Aryans, which I guess was a tribe before it became a propaganda term. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/15 "2000-04-15T06:24:00Z")
Okay, well, I was wrong (and my own numbers in the previous post would have proved me wrong if I had bothered to think about them). According to that bastion of knowledge, Encarta, there are 1.7 billion Christians and 1 billion Muslims. If there are 6 billion people in the world, that means that 28 people in the global village would be Christian and 16 would be Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/16 "2000-04-15T10:49:00Z")
cmkeller, It’s interesting that Indians and Pakistanis are classified as “white” in the US. We have (for obvious reasons) a largeish population of people from the Indian Sub-continent in this country and they are not classified as “white”. I think that most would describe themselves as “Asian” or by reference to their country of origin, but a fair number would also describe themselves as “Black”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/17 "2000-04-15T15:11:00Z")
Kyla, I’ll admit I didn’t actually count everyone personally. My figures are from the 1997 _Information Please Almanac_. They in turn got these particular figures from 1996 _Britannica Book of the Year_. So their figures for 1995 were a world population of 5,716,425,000 with 1,927,953,000 Christians and 1,099,634,000 Muslims. This works out to approx 33.7% and 19.2% respectively which I rounded off to the nearest “villager”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/18 "2000-04-15T15:22:00Z")
I was wrong however when I said that all of the other religions added up to less than 15 of the world’s population. According to the above source, there are 19,161,000 Sikhs, 14,117,000 Jews, 10,190,000 Spiritists, 6,104,000 Baha’is, 4,886,000 Jains, and 2,844,000 Shintos. They combine to 57,302,000 or just over one percent (57,164,000) of the total. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/19 "2000-04-17T20:47:00Z")
Kyla: > [@](#): > > BTW, CMKeller mentioned Iranian Arabs - Iranians aren’t Arabs at all. I know. I said Iranis and Arabs, although I’ll admit I forgot to put a comma or “and” between them. Chaim Mattis Keller ---
**Author:** ![curious\_george](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b487fb/32.png) [@curious\_george](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious_george)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143/20 "2000-04-20T05:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Kyla: > According to that bastion of knowledge, Encarta, there are 1.7 billion Christians and 1 billion Muslims. If there are 6 billion people in the world, that means that 28 people in the global village would be Christian and 16 would be Muslim. How can Encarta, or any source, determine if someone is Christian? If they believe in the Bible and Christ? If they attend Christian church most Sundays? If they just say so? How do you determine anyone’s religion? It seems subjective. That’s my problem with most of this entire analysis. Several of the categories (relgion, race, housing, college education …) are subjective and it seems hard to defince clearly. How could a source define college education? At least a four year degree? a two year degree? Some countries have a high school education that resembles college in the U.S. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-summary-of-the-world/16143.md?page=2)