If there were 100 people in the world?

Posted on by WritingfromtheheartwithBrian

When I was a young kid, I was small for my age. We’d line up at the start of the year, smallest to the tallest, and I would always be one of the shortest boys in my class. I wasn’t the smartest either, I had to work hard for my grades. Every ‘A’ felt like I had run a grueling marathon to earn it. 

On top of that, I would compete against my bigger, stronger brothers and always seemed to get my butt whooped. I write this to say that I didn’t feel special or lucky. When I was successful in school or sports, I would inevitably downplay my wins, assuming the test was easy or the challenge lighter than in past years.

My feeling of being just average persisted for a long time. I was curious about others, but I didn’t have great perspective. It took going off to college for me to see how fortunate I was. I walked in one day to my Economics 101 class and the prof started talking about how fortunate we were to be sitting in his classroom and to have the “luxuries” that we took for granted. He broke the world down into 100 people and called us some of the lucky ones.

Getting to the heart of the issue

We were supposed to be talking about some abstract economics concept that was going to be on the next test, but none of my classmates nor I were going to remind him. I was curious about this new topic and found it fascinating. With a a few simple numbers, he showed that I was luckier than I ever could have imagined.

Here’s what I mean. 

The 100 People Foundation, regularly uses World Factbook data to break the world into smaller more easily digestible numbers. If the world were a village of 100 people, of course, there would be an equal number of men and women. The majority of the people, 66 to be exact, would be between 15-64 years old, 25 would be between infant and 14 years of age, and 9 would be 65 and older. 

From a geographic standpoint, 61 villagers would be Asian (of that, 20 would be Chinese and 17 would be Indian), 14 would be African, 11 would be European, 9 would be Latin or South American, 5 would be North American. As far as languages go, the largest number, 12, would speak Chinese, with 6 speaking Spanish, and five English. 

One of the lucky ones

But here’s where it gets interesting. Less than 7 percent of the people would have their own home, eat full meals and drink clean water, have a mobile phone, surf the internet, and have gone to college. Yes, the devil is in the details. Let that sink in, less than 7 percent. Um, I get annoyed when the wifi goes down for a minute, 93% don’t have the Internet or a mobile phone? Really?

Of the 100, close to 80 people would have a place to shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 22 would not. Can you imagine, no shelter? Nothing substantial to save them from Mother Nature’s slights including storms, hurricanes, fires. Eleven of the 100 would be undernourished and 1 would die of starvation. Of the 100, 86 would be able to read and write; 14 would not, with only 7 having a college degree. 

I can’t speak for the rest of my Econ class, but when I started to view wins and losses from a different lens, I started to see how fortunate I’ve been in my life. What about you? How fortunate do you feel when you look at your life from this perspective? 

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Please join in on the discussion on the HoTM site. In addition, please visit my personal blog at www.writingfromtheheartwithbrian.com to read the companion piece I wrote today or follow me on Instagram at @writingfromtheheartwithbrian.

All the best, Brian.

Images by Pexels.

33 thoughts on “If there were 100 people in the world?”

  2. Those stats are an eye-opener. We’ve been actively involved in helping Ukrainians fleeing war, and that has certainly gave my new perspective. I am very grateful for all we have to share with others.

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  5. I do feel very fortunate, Brian. I was born into the luckiest generation in world history. That group, if they were white, had the possibility of college education at a modest cost. We lived in a country that hadn’t been invaded despite two world wars. One working parent could sustain a family of five within the middle class and live in a safe neighborhood. Pollution was not yet a problem, nor climate change.

    We have also had a hand in making a mess of the world. Heating it, polluting it, watching growing inequality of income and either participating in the divisiveness or standing by as it happens.

    As an old saying goes, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral crisis, remain neutral.” Yes, we should be grateful. And then we must act to make sure the present and future generations have something to be grateful for.

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    1. Thanks for completing my thought. You’re so very right. One thing to be grateful, the next step is to make sure that the good things we have will be there for the next generation. Stewardship is so important! Yes, we need to be doing more for the next generation. Thanks for completing my idea. Thank you.

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  6. Thanks for this, Brian. This is such a fascinating and eye-opening perspective taking exercise, and truly highlights just how fortunate most of us are. It’s easy to compare ourselves to our neighbors and what they have and we may lack, but conducting that comparison on a global scale is a different game. Scaling down to 100 people is a brilliant way to present the topic.

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  7. Thanks for the poignant reminder Brian of how very blessed I am. But for the undeserved grace of God I would be among the poverty stricken, homeless, starving, illiterate masses who share this world with me.

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  9. Thank you for this mid-week reminder about how blessed we are. Numbers truly help put things into context and perspective. Those are some compelling stats and remind us of the many blessings we have versus challenges.

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  10. I think everyone needs the opportunity to see the bigger picture, look at the facts in the ways that you share them Brian, but also can benefit from actually living experiences other than what our privilege affords us. My life and situation has changed throughout the years- sometimes positive other times not so much. I have learned a lot in those harder times, made and continue to make choices that I never thought much about, learned to value my resiliency and push ahead. I hope that I am a better person because of the harder stuff.

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  11. Man, I so get your perspective about all this. I’m one of those people who realizes how fortunate I was to have grown up in a stable and loving home. I don’t think I had as deep an appreciation for that until I taught children who came from far less stable situations.

    From an educator’s point of view, students like you (ones who had to work for everthing they earned) often became the most successful adults because they learned perseverance and excellent working habits at a young age. I also taught gifted children, who sturggled socially (perhaps they couldn’t relate to those feelings?) and emotionally when something finally came hard for them academically. I think there is a danger for those who have everything come to them so easily.

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    1. Great insight Pete. At about the same time that I was in this class in college, I was starting to realize that not everyone had the same advantages as I had growing up — both good and bad. It’s eye-opening when you start to look around and see the things that you’ve always taken for granted and realize that others don’t have them. Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate it.

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  12. Wow wow wow – I love this post. It has both numbers, which I love, and perspective, which is invaluable. Amazing lecture – that has stayed with you for many years. So grateful you shared it with us. Wonderful! ❤

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