The following statistics were first published in 1992 by the Retired Peace Corps Volunteers of Madison Wisconsin in a curriculum entitled "Unheard Voices: Celebrating Cultures From the Developing World". Shortly thereafter the statistics appeared as an email that continues to be circulated and viewed by millions of people around the world. A full history of the idea can be viewed here.
If the World were 100 PEOPLE:
50 would be female
50 would be male
There would be:
61 Asians
12 Europeans
14 people from the Western Hemisphere
13 Africans
30 would be children
There would be 70 adults,
7 of whom would be aged
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
33 would be Christian
18 would be Muslim
16 would be Hindu
6 would be Buddhist
1 would be Jewish
11 would believe in other religions
15 would be non-religious
1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer
80 people would live in substandard housing
14 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
20 would be undernourished
1 would be dying of starvation
15 would be overweight
75 people would have some supply of food and a place to shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 would not.
17 people would have no clean, safe water to drink
Sources: The Global Citizen, May 31, 1990, Donella H. Meadows, Hebei University 2001, Zero Population Growth Seattle, Unheard Voices: Celebrating Cultures from the Developing World, Returning Peace Corps Volunteers of Madison Wisconsin, 1992
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