# World Pop Q **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-pop-q/93310 "2001-11-14T14:13:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kee-ko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@kee-ko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kee-ko)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-pop-q/93310/1 "2001-11-14T14:13:19Z")
If the population of the world was reduced to 100, what would the cross section of people be?? (ie how many literate, how many in poverty, how many white etc etc…) I heard this on a radio program recently, and it was facinating…and disturbing. Anyone know these stats? Thanks!!! ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-pop-q/93310/2 "2001-11-14T14:17:40Z")
No idea how accurate this is, but I got it as part of a mass email a month or two ago. There would be: 57 Asians 21 Europeans 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south 8 Africans 52 would be female 48 would be male 70 would be non-white 30 would be white 70 would be non-Christian 30 would be Christian 89 would be heterosexual 11 would be homosexual 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s, wealth and all 6 would be from the United States. 80 would live in substandard housing 70 would be unable to read 50 would suffer from malnutrition 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education 1 would own a computer ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-pop-q/93310/3 "2001-11-14T14:27:00Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by China Guy \* \*\*No idea how accurate this is, but I got it as part of a mass email a month or two ago. 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s, wealth and all 6 would be from the United States. surely some of the europeans have got some money? 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education More than one in 14 Europeans has a college education ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-pop-q/93310/4 "2001-11-14T14:31:50Z")
There is at least one obvious error on that list. Assuming a population of six billion, each person would represent 60 million people. That would mean that 360 million people possess 59% of the world’s wealth, all of whom are from the U.S. Considering we have about 100 million fewer residents than that, I don’t see where they get their numbers. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-pop-q/93310/5 "2001-11-14T14:33:01Z")
Not quite… Snopes has covered this one at [http://www.snopes.com/spoons/fracture/populate.htm](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/fracture/populate.htm) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-pop-q/93310/6 "2001-11-15T11:33:37Z")
Hey, that was a really interesting snopes list. I’ll be deleting that other bit of misinformation off my hard drive as soon as I post this. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-pop-q/93310/7 "2001-11-15T18:05:10Z")
A look at a couple of previous threads on this subject: [A SUMMARY OF THE WORLD](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=20985) [If the World Were a Village of 100 People…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=46870)