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Global Political, Economic, and Social
Facts
From the UN's Human Development Report
2007/2008
- In 2008, 34 journalists died in the line of duty. That's down
from the 65 killed In 2007.
- In 103 countries the proportion of women in parliament
increased between 1995 and 2008, but around the world it still
averages just 18.4%.
- As of 2007, only 28 countries, representing 13% of the world's
population, are fully democratic. 54 countries, representing
38.3% of the world's population are flawed democracies;
30 are hybrid regimes; and 55, or 38.2% of the world's
population, are authoritarian regimes.
- Between 1970 and 2005 the under-5 mortality rate worldwide
fell from 96 to 76 per 1,000 live births.
- Multiparty elections are now held in 140 of the world's 195
countries.
- Coups overthrew 46 elected governments in the second half of the
twentieth century.
- The proportion of the world's extremely poor fell from 29% in
1990 to 23% in 1999.
- In 2006, 2.6 billion people, or 40% of the world’s population,
lived on less than $2 a day, with 1 billion of them surviving on the
margins of subsistence with less than $1 a day.
- In 2006, 1.1 billion people lacked access to safe water, and
2.6 billion did not have access to any form of improved sanitation
services.
- Just 125 countries, with 62% of the world's population, have a free
or partly free press.
- Of the world's estimated 854 million illiterate adults, 544
million are women.
- Armed conflict continues to blight the lives of millions: since
1990, 3.6 million people have died as a result of civil wars and
ethnic violence, more than 16 times the number killed in wars
between states.
- Civilians have accounted for more than 90% of the
casualties—either injured or killed—in post-cold war
conflicts.
- Ninety countries are affected by landmines and unexploded
ordinance, with rough estimates of 15,000 to 20,000 mine victims each
year.
- Greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are accruing at a
record rate. In 2007, there were 380 parts per million of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere, which exceeds the natural range of the
past 650,000 years.
- The United States has a carbon footprint five times that of
China, and over 15 times that of India.
- The 23 million residents of the US state of Texas emit more
carbon dioxide than the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa,
which is 720 million people.
Additional sources: Committee to Protect
Journalists, The Inter-parliamentary Union, UNICEF
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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