THE WORLD'S AVERAGE MAN
If we could shrink the world’s population into a village of 100 people, while keeping all the present human ratios in place, it would look something like this:
There would be 57 Asians in this village, 21 Europeans, 8 Africans, and the remaining 14 people would be from the Western Hemisphere. About 70 of them would be non-white and the rest would be white. About 70 would be non-Christian and 30 would be Christian. Over 50% of the wealth would be in the hands of 6 people, all of whom would be citizens of the United States. About 70 would be unable to read and 50 would suffer from malnutrition. Only one would have had the opportunity to gain a college education and 80 of the villagers would live in sub-standard housing. This information was taken from the “Middle School Companion”, which was published to help students better understand the world’s population.
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If this picture is accurate, it means that the world’s average man is dark skinned, extremely poor and uneducated. It would also mean that he would not be able to adequately provide for his family, much less give them the things that many of us North Americans take for granted. When he is able to work, it would likely be hard manual labor, from sun up to sun down, seven days a week. For this, he would be grateful to make one dollar per day. (The same rate men received here in 1849.) This money does not provide a nice home, medicine, or pleasure. It only enables them to survive. He has no idea of what a vacation is, and the concept of retirement has not entered his mind. And for many, the hope of Heaven to come, which would sustain them here, has not yet entered their hearts.
