1 Percent
I was just thinking about our overwhelming wealth, thanks to the site Global Rich List. Then I came across this post by Steven Nicholson, which talks further about wealth, using some currentUN data. It’s well worth the read.
According to the Global Rich List, those people making $47,500 USD per year are in the same top 1% of wealth in the world, as those making $1,000,000 per year. It doesn’t matter if I’m making 47 grand a year or 2 million a year. I’m still ridiculously rich. This should shatter all of our paradigms, and yet, somehow it doesn’t.
Technorati Tags: United Nations, Global Rich List, wealth, money, poverty
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Yeah, I don’t think it does at all really. I hear that I am rich by just living in America, but I wonder if global wealth is really worth looking at all. Just because I am in the top 1% in the world, does not mean I could live on quarter of what I have. I think these stats need to take into count the normal rates of living that each country has. How much does it cost a Mexican to buy a house, how much does it cost me?
Chase,
Have you travelled to 2nd and 3rd world countries? If not, I suggest you do it. Go spend a month in a hut in Sudan. Or a shack in South America. ertainly, it costs more to live here, but the reality is that we are wealthy. Do you own a car? Most people in the world don’t. Do you have access to medical care? Most people in the world don’t.
Here are some interesting stats from a prior post:
6 billion people in the worldü American’s comprise about 6% of world’s population
American’s consume about 40-50% of the world’s resources
8% of people in the world own a car
1.2 billion people do not have access to clean water or sanitation
1 billion people live in extreme poverty (poverty that kills) no access to water, food shelter, medicine to such a degree that death is constantly hanging over them.
Some estimates would say that it would take somewhere between 12-20 billion dollars to eliminate this poverty. That is how much America and Europe spent last year on ice cream.
Ice Cream, Chase. Think about it.
I think it’s difficult to think of ourselves as the rich of the richest when it’s sometimes difficult to pay or monthly mortgages and SUV payments or when we don’t have the money to eat a $35.00 Filet Mignon. However, I can’t be so delusional as to forget the billions who will never spend $35.00 on a steak when they don’t even earn that kind of money in a year! We’re so consumed with our want, needs and the lack of things we wish we could afford that we minimize the struggles of poverty all around the world. It’s really sad. By American standards, I wouldn’t say I am anywhere near the richest of people. But when I compare myself to those living in severe poverty, I’m filthy rich!
Shannon,
This is exactly it. We are in no way well off by US standards either. In fact, we struggle to pay our mortgage, grocery, heat etc. We try to live wisely, no car payments (our cars are all as old as our teenage kids ha ha).
And this is why its important to remind ourselves, whether we struggle financially or we are set, it doesn’t ultimately matter. My daughter with epilepsy gets the medicine she needs. I have a car to drive and a home and food. I am wealthy.