Random facts and figures on the state of the world
World population
There are now 7.6 billion people living on the planet
This year there were around 133 million births and 55 million deaths
Projections are that by 2050 there will be almost 9.8 billion people living on the planet, with the world population expected to hit 10 billion somewhere around 2055 or 2056
Compared to a global population of 2.8 billion in 1955
0.275 billion in 1000 AD, and
0.2 billion at 1 AD - equivalent roughly today to the population of Pakistan
Global population is currently growing around 1.12% per annum, but this growth rate has halved since its peak in 1960 and is expected to continue falling.
Life and death
Global life expectancy increased by five years between 2010 and 2015, the fastest increase since the 1960s
Global life expectancy at birth in 2015 was 71.4 years
For much of human history, life expectancy has been around 30-40 years
In most recent figures (2015) more than 16,000 children under age 5 die each day
Almost all of these could have been saved if they had been provided access to things like breastfeeding, medicines and vaccines, clean water and sanitation
The biggest cause of death in the world is Ischaemic heart disease and stroke, killing 15 million people each year, equivalent to the population of Chad
Income
Global GDP per capita in constant US$ (ie. adjusting for inflation) in 2016 was $10,390.55
This compares with $3,689.13 in 1960
This means that income earned per person is 2.8 times higher today than it was 56 years ago, even after adjustment for inflation
Global income inequality has declined substantially over the last 30 years, after seeing an increase through most of the 19th and 20th centuries
The decline represents a convergence between what have traditionally been referred to as developed and developing countries as a result of globalisation and new technology
However, inequality within countries is presents a mixed picture, with some advanced countries seeing rising inequality
Since 1990, nearly 1.1 billion people have escaped extreme poverty
One in 10 people in the world, or 767 million people, still earn less than US$ 1.90 per day, using the World Bank definition of the poverty line
Half of these - 389 million people - live in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is equivalent to the combined populations of the United States and France
"Although increased global integration and technological progress are widely recognized as having generated widespread economic growth and falling global inequality and poverty, the rising inequality in advanced economies, in conjunction with job insecurity and stagnating real incomes for a segment of the population, has led to growing public backlash against globalization.”
International Monetary Fund, Fiscal Monitor 2017: Tackling Inequality, October, p, 1, accessed 11/12/2017
Humanity over the last 200 years
Over the last 200 years, human life expectancy and income – health and wealth – has increased dramatically to levels way beyond anything else seen in human history
Largest economic entities in the world
The United States is the largest economic entity in the world with a GDP of US$3,251 billion in 2016
Closely followed by China as the second largest economic entity with a GDP of US$ 2,426 billion
The largest company in the world by turnover (sales) was Walmart with turnover of US$ 482 billion
This makes Walmart the 10th largest economic entity in the world by turnover or GDP
The largest company in the world by market capitalisation (total value of its share capital) was Apple Inc at US$ 792 million
(as at 3rd quarter 2017)
But the most valuable company in human history was the Dutch East India Company (VOC) which was worth 78 million Dutch guilders in 1637 at the height of the Tulip Mania speculative bubble
Its value in today’s dollars would be US$ 7.9 trillion
This is equivalent to the combined value of the top 20 global corporations in the world today or to the entire combined value of the Japanese and German economies today
Environment
One in five species on Earth now faces extinction and this could rise to one in two, or 50%, by the end of the century
It is estimated that just from the destruction of tropical habitats alone, that we are currently losing 27,000 species each year
This compares with the average historical fossil record which suggests that through Earth’s history we have lost between 10 and 100 species per year
Globally averaged levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have now reached 403.3 parts per million
The last time the world had similar levels of CO2 concentration was 3 – 5 million years ago
And the rate of increase is faster than anything ever seen before in Earth’s history