Riches

[lostcarpark]

According to Global Rich List, I'm among the 0.899% of richest people in the world. More depressing is the fact that if I reduce my income to $1000, I'm still in the top half of the world's population.

Does anybody know anything about Care International, the charity the above site is supporting?

Comments

[etherealfionna.livejournal.com]

You're also richer than I am...

It would be more useful if they took into account things like tax rate and number of dependents, although at least with the former there probably wouldn't be a huge change in the distribution.

I'm a bit discouraged that they have only so far raised about £1100.

[lostcarpark.livejournal.com]

That would be mormative is they said since when!

More information that you intended?

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

You *do* realise that by typing in no more than about half a dozen or so incomes into the box and reading the output, I've probably figured out your income to within about 100 pounds?

I'd tell you my percentage, but you're right, it's frightening ... what's even more frightening perhaps, is that I left off the final two zeroes of mine by accident, and I'm still in the top two thirds of people in the world, on 1% of my salary.

Of course the cost of housing in some of those places is far lower ... but then so is the standard of healthcare, the infant survival rate (one over the infant mortality rate) and the average age at death ...

... due to Aids and other causes, the average life expectancy in Swaziland has dropped from 58 to 33, and is expected to drop to 27 by 2010. http://www.hivdent.org/publicp/inter/ppinzlixp072001.htm

That's compared to a UK expectancy of 75.3 years (http://www.eagle-min.com/faq/faq85.htm).

The World Health Organisation use a different number, which is the number of "healthy" years (so if you stay alive but are on a life support machine or in extreme pain etc. it's not "living" it's just not dead yet), and on that basis Sierra Leone is already down to under 26 years, while the US are at 70.0 years and the Japanese at nearly 75 years of healthy life.

All the bottom ten countries are in sub-Saharan Africa and the BEST of those is 33.5 years in Ethiopia.

In 1990 women lived 2-3 years longer than men in the "more developed countries", now it's 7-8 years longer. Better diet, more exercise, lower smoking rates and lower exposure to health risks at work (on average).
http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-life.html