A FIBS sample?

[slick]

If we could shrink the earth's population to precisely 100 people, and maintain current existing human ratios,  this is how our world would look like right now:

There would be:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 would be Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
30 would be white
70 would be non-white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the USA
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death
1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 (yes, only 1) would own computer.


When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, we realize the need for acceptance, understanding and education.

So therefore . . .

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can read this message you are more blessed than the over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

As you read this and are reminded how life
is in the rest of the world, remember just how blessed you really are!

[PortWine]

How many of those people would complain about fibs dice?

[alef]

I'm amazed that 70% of the world can't read. My immediate thought is that might be because written Chinese is so mind boggling difficult to learn, but obviously it's more to do with poverty....

Curious, out of the 100 how many:
--have access to a computer?
--know what a computer is?
--will watch any of the Olympics?
--can play backgammon?
--are of a different religion to their parents?
--are atheists?
--describe their lives as more happy than sad?
--would leave their own country if they could?
--have ever been to another country?
--have ever been to another continent?

[Bondy]

...where to start?

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 would be Africans

According to the United Nations in 2000, this would currently actually be more like:

#  Asians: 60
# Europeans: 12
# Western Hemisphereans: 15
(9 Latin Americans/Caribbeans, 5 North Americans, 1 Oceanian)
# Africans: 13

Also according to the UN, with a little rounding, there would also be 50 men and 50 women.

70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian

According to adherents.com, this would be closer to 67-33, but you're still not doing so badly.

30 would be white
70 would be non-white

Define 'white'?

89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual

For various reasons, this is almost impossible to determine to any reasonable degree of accuracy.  The proportion of the population which is homosexual has been cited as anything from 1% to 35%.  2-3% is probably the best estimate.

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the USA

This is where things really start to turn sour.  For a start, we only have 5 North Americans.  According to the CIA World Factbook, the USA has a GDP of 9.26 trillion, out of a GWP of 40.7 trillion.  So the USA only has 23% of the world's wealth.

80 would live in substandard housing

Define 'standard'?

70 would be unable to read

According to a 1998 UNICEF study, the illiteracy rate is about 18%.

50 would suffer from malnutrition

WHO puts malnutrition rate at 33%.  As with a lot of figures in this email, they shouldn't have changed it.  33% is a pretty staggering number, and it's something you can get angry about.  But they exaggerate, and it destroys the credibility of the email.

1 would be near death
1 would be near birth

Define 'near death'.  Define 'near birth'.

1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education

For a start, a large proportion of your 100 people simply wouldn't be old enough.  But assuming everyone is old enough, 33% of the USA has graduated college (fox, 2000), so you have 2 graduates just out of your North American 5.  Add to that just the Europeans, who I expect would have a higher college graduation rate than the USA, and you're well over 1 for the world.

1 (yes, only 1) would own computer.

Again, 50% of our North Americans own computers, so there are 2 for you right there.  And in the interest of self-consistency: if 6 people have 59% of the world's money, don't you think most of them would've bought computers with it?  They'd probably be college educated too, for that matter.

(I got these figures from http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/populate.htm, which links to all of the original sources)

Sorry to shout you down, but I hate it when people pass crap like this around without checking their facts first.  33% of the world is malnourished.  That sucks, and please, get angry about it, because more people should.  But as long as stupid emails like this are doing the rounds, you're just setting people up for a fall when they quote fictitious numbers and get shouted down.