Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Scope and Scale of Global Poverty

From Roger C. Riddell's book, Does Foreign Aid Really Work? (page 121):

Estimates by different UN agencies...suggest that each day upwards of 34,000 children and 16,000 adults die from hunger and preventable diseases which can be traced directly or indirectly to poverty related causes. This amounts to around 18mn people a year. The vast majority of these deaths occur in the poorest 65 countries of the world, and are largely preventable...The annual number of deaths from poverty, predominantly taking place in poor countries, is equal to two and a half times the population of London. It is equivalent to 100 average-seized jumbo jets (each carrying 500 passengers) crashing each day, leaving no survivors. Two hundred and thirty thousand people are estimated to have died in the Asian tsunami and its aftermath; this number dies every five days from the extremes and diseases of poverty.

[Emphasis Mine]

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