Statistics and case studies

Question 1

Wealth

Answer 1

the wealthiest 1% of the adults own 50% of the world’s assets and that the 3 richest people in the world are wealthier than the world’s 48 poorest countries combined

Question 2

Education

Answer 2

• Sub-Saharan Africa: enrolment rates of children in primary school rose from 65% in 1990 to 73% in 2015  44 million more children received a primary school education
• Wealthy countries (Australia, New Zealand and US) make education compulsory, free and universal.

Question 3

Health

Answer 3

• 1 in 8 people worldwide are undernourished making them susceptible to disease, less productive in their work and more likely to die young
• 780 million people around the world do not have access to clean water – 345 million of these people live in Africa
• 3.4 million people die each year from diseases caused by dirty water or lack of sanitation including thousands of children every day.

Question 4

Life expectancy

Answer 4

• A child born in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2013 is expected to live for 55 years
• A child born in US in 2013 is expected to live for 79 years

Question 5

Infant mortality

Answer 5

• A child born today in Sub-Saharan Africa is 12 times more likely to die in their first year of life than a child born in the US

Question 6

Literacy rates

Answer 6

In many countries, people in rural areas have lower literacy levels than city dwellers
- Girls are not given the same educational opportunities as boys

Question 7

Barriers to successful eduction

Answer 7

• In developed countries (Australia, Britain, Germany and France) about 99% of all school-aged children are enrolled in schools
• In developing countries (Mali, Ethiopia and Niger) only 90% of all school-aged children are enrolled in schools.
• School enrolment rats have gone up in the past decade.
• 61 million children of primary school age are not receiving an education (more than half are from Sub-Saharan Africa and 1/5 are in South Asia)

Question 8

Case Study: Syria

Answer 8

Due to war between rebels and the government in 2011 a lot of damage was done to the infrastructure of the country including hospitals, roads, electricity, communication networks and factories. Food production fell dramatically, and, in some areas, clean water supplies were reduced to one-third of their pre-war levels. All of these factors have resulted in enormous falls in wellbeing.

Question 9

CASE STUDY: THE TWO KOREAS

Answer 9

South Korea
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
As they both are located in the same area, the difference in resources cannot explain the large differences in wellbeing. The main differences are due to how the governments are run and how their resources are managed.

South Korea also has relatively low levels of corruption and a free media, this has led to a stronger economy with high exports and imports, is highly industrialised with large urban population and is technologically advanced.

North Korea is a totalitarian state, meaning there is only one politically party and no elections. They have placed a great emphasis on having a strong military and they use up to 1/3 of the country’s budget. North Korea has very high levels of corruption and no freedom of press

Question 10

Food Production

Answer 10

• Currently 33%, 50% by 2050, or cereals grown feed animals for human consumption (UN report, 2011)
• Meat consumption is expected to increase from 39 kg/person/year by 2009 to over 49kg/person/year by 2050.
• The production of animal protein must be more than tripled is the projected global population of 9 billion in 2050 were to consume meat and dairy at current North American and European levels.
• Today, the number of urban residents is growing by nearly 60 million every year.
• With rising incomes in the developing world, demand for animals products will continue to surge; 74% for meat, 58% for dairy and 500% for eggs (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the Un 2012)