10 Facts about Global Inequality

1. The richest 1% is twice as wealthy as the poorest 50% (World Inequality Report 2018, World Wealth and Income Database)
2. Only 22.8 per cent of all national parliamentarians were women as of June 2016 (UNWOMEN)
3. More than 1 in 5 young persons are not in employment, education or training (NEET). 3 out of 4 of these are women (ILO)
4. 19.5% of the world’s children (387 million) live in extreme poverty ($1.90 a day) compared to just 9.2% of adults (UNICEF)
5. 57% of refugees today are from just three countries, Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan (UNHCR, Global Trends Report 2018)
6. In the least developed countries, barely 60% of girls complete primary school and just 30% enroll in secondary school (UNWOMEN)
7. Globally, 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime (WHO, 2017)
8. Children in sub-Saharan Africa will be 10 times more likely to die before their fifth birthdays than children in high-income countries (UNICEF)
9. 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries.(WHO)
10. Average life expectancy in Central African Republic is less than 55 years old compared to 80 years old in Japan. (WHO, World Health Statistics, 2018)

Discussion

Which of these statistics surprised you the most? Why? Share your response in the comments section and if someone else has chosen the same fact, you can reply and add your thoughts.