Important
There are many things wrong with the world, and here are what I personally deem to be the 5 worst ones. The purpose of this hub is to inform people of these problems, using statistics and facts, and explaining where it is complicated.
Watch out for my next hub which will address the best solutions to these issues.
1. Wealth Imbalance
Arguably the largest problem in the world at the moment is the wealth imbalance across the globe.
In 2005
80% of the world population was earning under $10 a day ($3,650 per year!)
80% of the world population lived in countries where differences between incomes are getting larger
The poorest 40% of the world population accounted for just 5% of global income.
The richest 20% accounted for 75% of the global income.
This does not just account for people however:
In 2010
The GDP per Capita of Liechtenstein (the highest) was $108,952
The GDP per Capita’s of Somalia, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi (joint lowest) were all just $200!.
Note: GDP per capita is the total amount of money a country has from it’s gross product (what it does/makes in a year) divided by the population.
As you can see, the difference in income also widely varies between countries. So depending on which part of the World you are born in, you will earn a lot more or a lot less than people born in other parts.
Sources
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats – ‘Poverty Facts and Stats’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
2. Famine
Famine is the term given to an extreme shortage of food. In a world of such huge wealth imbalances as mentioned in #1, it would only be expected that there would also be a huge food imbalance too.
The extent of famine is much larger than most people expect:
Around 1.2 billion people suffer from hunger (deficiency of calories and protein);
Between 2 and 3.5 billion people have micronutrient deficiency (not enough vitamins and minerals)
Over 9 million people die every year because of hunger and malnutrition. 5 million are children.
But at the same time:
“1.2 billion suffer from obesity (excess of fats and salt, often accompanied by deficiency of vitamins and minerals);”
Thus, famine can be seen as one of the most unfair aspects of human life. It is not by choice that people starve. But it is by choice that people over-eat. If the wealth & food was spread out equally, it could be argued that there would be no more famine.
To add salt to the wounds of starving people, the people of developed countries actually waste a considerable amount of food. This of course, could have been used to feed the hungry and prevent suffering.
Here are the facts:
In the United Kingdom 30-40% of all foods are never eaten
In the last 10 years the amount of food British people threw away went up by 15%
Overall, £20 billion ($38 billion) worth of food is thrown away each year
In the USA 40-50% of all food ready for harvest never even gets eaten
Of the food that does eventually reach households, 14% is wasted, resulting in an est. $43 billion wastage
If food reaching supermarkets, restaurants and cafeterias is added to the household figure, that wastage goes up to 27%.
In some parts of Africa a quarter or more of the crops go bad before they can be eaten. High losses in developing nations can be due to a lack of technology, infrastructure, insect infestations, microbial growth, damage and high temperatures and humidity.
The direct medical cost of hunger and malnutrition is around $30 billion each year.
Some would argue that putting money into starving countries could even be an investment as the country will become more prosperous and be able to do trade with everyone else (similar to the reasons of why stronger EU countries are bailing out the weaker economies in the EU currently – maintaining trade)
Source
http://www.globalissues.org/article/7/causes-of-hunger-are-related-to-poverty
3. Homelessness
it is estimated that about 100,000,000 people are homeless in the world.
You might say that it’s a small amount compared to the 7 billion people that exist. But consider the fact that this is just homeless. This doesn’t include people living in slums and takes no account for how they are living, food, water and wealth are not included. These people do not even have shelter from the weather.
Sources
http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/homelessness-statistics
4. Disease
As you can see from the table below, just the top 10 deadly diseases cause 13.5 million deaths per year. It should be noted that diseases such as malaria have been eradicated from wealthy countries such as the USA. These diseases still manage to plague many nations however, who have not the resources (vaccinations, insecticides, medicines and nets) to do the same.
Every day 40,000 children die from preventable diseases.
5. Wars and Anthropogenic Disasters (human caused disasters)
Wars and life costing regimes are often a result of human vices such as selfishness, ignorance and paranoia.
The most notable wars are :
An Lushan Rebellion ~ 36 million deaths (15.3% of the then world population!) [763 CE]
World War 2 (WWII) ~60 million deaths (roughly 2.5% of the world population) [1945]
First World War (WWI) ~15 million deaths [1918]
Russian Civil War ~9 million deaths [1922]
Chinese Civil War ~2.5 million deaths [1949]
Key: [the end of the war] ~Approximate death toll
“Honourable” Mentions?
All discrimination such as racism, sexism, ageism and intolerance to differing sexualities and disabilities should also be mentioned when referring to problems with the world. However, these things are hard to quantify and prove although many readers will be aware that they do exist. Reliable data sources of their prevalence in the past are also hard to come by.
Human Vices Such as laziness, selfishness, ignorance and hatred are also worth mentioning but however are difficult to quantify and predict. Their consequences however, such as unemployment, crime and wealth imbalances are easier to deal with. Wealth imbalances being the most significant one out of them in my opinion, as most problems arise from it in the first place.
Conclusion
To conclude, I believe that the 4 largest problem that face humanity are:
Wealth Imbalances
Famine
Homelessness
Disease
War & Anthropogenic Disasters
This is a work in progress, and as time does so, I will be adding more to the list as well as make changes that the commentators see fit.
Thank you for your time.
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