Children

(Taken from the Bread for the World Institute and the World Health Organization)

  • Today our world houses 6.39 billion people.
  • The United States is a part of the developed or industrialized world, which consists of about 50 countries with a combined population of 0.9 billion, less than one sixth of the world’s population.
  • In contrast, approximately 5 billion people live in the developing world. This world is made up of about 125 low and middle-income countries in which people generally have a lower standard of living with access to fewer goods and services than people in high-income countries.
  • The remaining 0.4 billion live in countries in transition, which include the Baltic states, eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
  • In 2002, 1.1 billion people lacked access to improved water sources, which represented 17% of the global population.
  • In the developing world, more than 1.2 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day.