As people throughout the world awake each morning to face a new day, they do so
under very different circumstances. Some live in comfortable homes with many
rooms. They have more than enough to eat, are well clothed and healthy, and have
a reasonable degree of financial security. Others, and these constitute a majority of
the earth’s nearly 7 billion people, are much less fortunate. They may have inadequate
food and shelter, especially if they are among the poorest third. Their health
is often poor, they may not know how to read or write, they may be unemployed,
and their prospects for a better life are uncertain at best. Over 40% of the world’s
population lives on less than $2 per day, part of a condition of absolute poverty.
An examination of these global differences in living standards is revealing.
If, for example, we looked first at an average family in North America, we
would probably find a “nuclear” family of four with an annual income of
over $50,000. They would live in a comfortable suburban house with a small