Poverty Fact File
- Half the world – nearly 3 billion people live on less than two dollars a day.
- According to UNICEF, 26,000 – 30,000 children die each day due to poverty.
- 1 in 3 children in the developing world do not have adequate shelter.
- 1 in 5 children in the developing world do not have access to safe water.
- 1 in 7 children in the developing world do not have access to health care services.
- 2 million children die of preventable diseases each year because they have not been immunized.
- Some 1.8 million child deaths occur each year as a result of diarrhoea
- Close to half the health problems suffered at any given time in developing countries are caused by water and sanitation deficits.
- 10.6 million children died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5. This is the same amount as the entire child population of France, Germany, Greece and Italy.
- For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.
- The 20% of the world’s population that live in developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.
- A mere 12% of the world’s population uses 85% of its water, and these 12% do not live in the Third World.
- About 80 million children do not go to school. Well over half of these are girls.
- 150 million children who start school drop out before the end of primary school.
- 250 million children have to work to support themselves and their families.
- Nearly one billion people entered the 21 st century unable to read a book or sign their names. Two thirds of these are women.
- The children of mothers who have a primary education are 50% more likely to reach the age of five.
- A single year of schooling increases a woman’s wage by 10-20%.
- Girls and boys who complete primary school are 50% less likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS.
- It would cost $12 billion per year to provide quality education to all children and to teach all adults to read and write. This is same as 1% of the global military budget. It is less than what the world spends on potato chips each year.
- 854 million people in the world are hungry.
- Every day, about 25,000 people die of hunger or hunger-related causes – that’s one person every three and a half seconds.
- Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes – that’s one child every five seconds.
- According to the World Health Organization, poor nutrition and calorie deficiencies cause nearly 1 in 3 people to die prematurely.
- Every year, more than 20 million low-birth weight babies are born in developing countries. Many of these babies risk dying in infancy, while those who survive often suffer lifelong physical and cognitive disabilities.
- In the developing world, 27% of children under the age of 5 are moderately to severely underweight.
- In the United States, approximately 61% of the population is overweight.
- In areas of extreme poverty, it is common for children to eat dirt to try to make the hunger pains stop.
