By the Numbers: Global Disparities in the Distribution of Wealth
By Masoud Shafaee - Aug 6th, 2008 at 4:24 pm66,514,506 - Population of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
486,006 - Population of Luxembourg.
9,700 - Number of telephone lines in use in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
246,700 - Number of telephone lines in use in Luxembourg.
$298 - Democratic Republic of Congo’s 2007 GDP per capita, the lowest in the world.
$80,457 - Luxembourg’s 2007 GDP per capita, the highest in the world.
85 - Percentage of global wealth that the world’s richest 10% of adults own.
1 - Percentage of global wealth that the world’s poorest 50% of adults own.
Sources: International Monetary Fund, CIA Factbook (1, 2), World Institute for Development Economics Research.
Thank god you didn’t pick on Liechtenstein.
August 6th, 2008 at 4:26 pmi didn’t “pick on” luxembourg either; they are the world’s richest country and DRC is the poorest.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:10 amIt’s hardly a fair comparison. When’s the last time Luxembourg was engulfed in war? The DRC was engulfed in a massive civil war (with soldiers from numerous other African nations joining in) for about 7-8 of the last 12 years. It’s not the only factor, but it certainly makes having a stable economy a bit difficult.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:29 amthe fact that they aren’t engulfed in war, have peace, have money–have no worries–is sort of the point. caucasian europeans live in affluent peace while black africans live in war and poverty. i’m sorry if you missed that.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:03 pmMy apologies for missing your intended point. However by merely posting data without any context you suggest an injustice that demands correction, which in the context of the general postings on this blog would most likely be desired through redistributive means.
However, considering the failed track record of direct government aid to foreign nations, this would be about the worst possible route to go with. The lack of context fails to provide any sort of comprehension as the myriad problems in the DRC that have led to their current miserable state.
Notably it leaves out any sort of comparable info to see if the situation is improving or getting worse since the war ended, an important statistic since the long conflict discouraged any sort of foreign investment that might allow the economy to improve through utilization of its natural resources and companies are most likely still pretty wary of investing capital into such a potentially unstable area. And apart from that, the war is estimated to have led to the deaths of 5 million people, if I recall my numbers correctly, another significant factor for economic growth.
I’m just saying that I think it’s irresponsible to post data outside of context, particularly if you intend to prove a point and it’s not just an “oh this is interesting, let’s see what everyone else thinks” factoid.
August 8th, 2008 at 3:12 am