Hmmm, that is interesting

File this under “Hmmm, that’s interesting” but you have to say it with one of your eyebrows raised.

I was chatting with a friend the other day and we were talking about how many people could be described in certain ways in reference to the world population. Like, how many people take gymnastics, what percentage? What percentage of people cannot swim (couldn’t find a reasonable answer for the world)? How many own cars, bikes, houses? Etc. So, of course, being nerdy we both pull out our phones and begin researching.

The world just tipped the 7 billion mark but  it’s hard to grasp things when contemplating such huge numbers. We found a really cool graphic that asks “What if the world were only 100 people?” So we battled each other on finding how many of the 100 would do various things:

Of the 100 people, 50 are male, 50 are female, 26 are “children” and 8 are over age 65.

Of all these (100) people only 5 of us speak English. 5 others speak Spanish but 12 speak Chinese.

17 People cannot read.

23 have no shelter to rest their head.

51 live in the city.

13 have no access to water.

21 are overweight, and 15 are undernourished.

31 don’t get any exercise outside of their job or their daily living.

15 of the 100 are smokers.

13 people own cars.

Sadly, less than 1 does gymnastics. (sad face)

Side note: If the US was only 100 people; 80 (vs. 31 worldwide) would be sedentary, still less than 1 would be a gymnast (still sad face) and only 44 could swim.

I know it’s simplistic, but maybe if we saw the world as a smaller number, a number that could fit into one room, we would do something about the problems that the world faces. Maybe we could get 13 people a drink of water, we could convince 15 people to stop smoking, we could give 17 the gift or literacy, or we could motivate 31 of them to get up and move. When the numbers are easier to grasp the problems of the world should become harder to accept. I know that if the whole of the world’s people were only 100 that I could get more of them doing gymnastics, that’s for sure.