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Index
Praise for 50 Facts that Should Change the World
Contents
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Introduction: Why should these 50 facts change the world?
The average Japanese woman can expect to live to be 84. The average Botswanan will reach just 39
A third of the world’s obese people live in the developing world
If you stand at the junction of Oxford Street and Regent Street in central London, there are 161 branches of Starbucks within a five-mile radius
China has 44 million missing women
Brazil has more Avon ladies than members of its armed services
Ninety-four per cent of the world’s executions in 2005 took place in just four countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the USA
British supermarkets know more about their customers than the British government does
Every cow in the European Union is subsidised by $2.50 a day. That’s more than what 75 per cent of Africans have to live on
In more than 70 countries, same-sex relationships are illegal. In nine countries, the penalty is death
One in five of the world’s people lives on less than $1 a day
More than 12,000 women are killed each year in Russia as a result of domestic violence
In 2006, 16 million Americans had some form of plastic surgery
Landmines kill or maim at least one person every hour
There are 44 million child labourers in India
People in industrialised countries eat between six and seven kilograms of food additives every year
David Beckham’s deal with the LA Galaxy football team will earn him £50 every minute
Seven million American women and 1 million American men suffer from an eating disorder
Nearly half of British fifteen year olds have tried illegal drugs and nearly a quarter are regular cigarette smokers
One million people become new mobile phone subscribers every day. Some 85 per cent of them live in emerging markets
Cars kill two people every minute
Since 1977, there have been more than 120,000 acts of violence and disruption at abortion clinics in North America
Global warming already kills 150,000 people every year
In Kenya, bribery payments make up a third of the average household budget
The world’s trade in illegal drugs is estimated to be worth around $400 billion – about the same as the world’s legal pharmaceutical industry
A third of Americans believe aliens have landed on Earth
More than 150 countries use torture
Every day, one in five of the world’s population – some 800 million people – go hungry
Black men born in the US today stand a one in three chance of going to jail
A third of the world’s population is at war
The world’s oil reserves could be exhausted by 2040
Eighty-two per cent of the world’s smokers live in developing countries
Britons buy 3 billion items of clothing every year – an average of 50 pieces each. Most of it ends up being thrown away
A quarter of the world’s armed conflicts of recent years have involved a struggle for natural resources
Some 30 million people in Africa are HIV-positive
Ten languages die out every year
More people die each year from suicide than in all the world’s armed conflicts
Every week, an average of 54 children are expelled from American schools for bringing a gun to class
There are at least 300,000 prisoners of conscience in the world
Two million girls and women are subjected to female genital mutilation each year
There are 300,000 child soldiers fighting in conflicts around the world
Nearly 26 million people voted in the 2001 British General Election. More than 32 million votes were cast in the first season of Pop Idol
One in six English teenagers believe that reality television will make them famous
In 2005, the US spent $554 billion on its military. This is 29 times the combined military spending of the six ‘rogue states’
There are 27 million slaves in the world today
Americans discard 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. That’s enough bottles to reach all the way to the moon every three weeks
The average urban Briton is caught on camera up to 300 times a day
Some 120,000 women and girls are trafficked into Western Europe every year
A kiwi fruit flown from New Zealand to Britain emits five times its own weight in greenhouse gases
The US owes the United Nations more than $1 billion in unpaid dues
Children living in poverty are three times more likely to suffer a mental illness than children from wealthy families
Sources for the 50 Facts
Notes
Glossary
Getting involved
INDEX
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