(Photo by: aloshbennett / CC BY 2.0)

Sometimes, we don’t truly understand how the world really is outside of our own little sphere. We hear, we see, but it’s hard to actually comprehend with over 6 billion people on the planet how different, unique and how lucky some of us really are, compared to other places.

To help understand how our world is connected and compiled, it is easier to picture the world’s population (~6 Billion, 300 Million) if it were represented in a small Village made up of 100 people.

This is an updated version of a text originally conducted by Donella Meadows in her “State of the Village Report” published May 24, 1990 (to view the original you can click here). This is a statistical estimation. It is not completely accurate because the world is constantly changing and well, it’s hard to truly document all of this, even with all of our modern technology.

To view a video of this World Village, and for some more information, you can click on this nifty website. The project is called Miniature Earth and it’s goal is to spread awareness of how our world appears to be compiled, using Donella Meadow’s updated report, so you can help in any way you can. To view the video simply click on the language you wish, read what pops up, and on the left panel of the box there is a play button (you can also download the video of you want).

I have typed up the stats that appear in the video, among other stats that have been updated or represent an earlier version of the Village report.

If we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would be something like this…
61 Asians
12 Europeans
8 North Americans
5 South Americans and the Caribbean
13 Africans
1 from Oceania

50 women
50 men
89 would be Heterosexual
11 would be Homosexual

47 live in an urban area
9 are disabled

33 are Christian (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans and other Christians).
18 are Muslims
14 are Hindus
16 are non-religious
6 are Buddhists
13 practice other religions

14 people would speak Mandarin
8 people would speak Hindi/Urdu
8 English
7 Spanish
4 Russian
4 Arabic
The other half of the Village would speak (in descending order of frequency) Bengali, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese, German, French and 200 other languages.

43 live without basic sanitation
18 live without an improved water source
6 people own 59% of the entire wealth of the community, all would be U.S citizens
The poorest one-third of the people would only receive 3% of the income of the village
13 are hungry or malnourished
14 can’t read
7 are educated at a secondary level
12 have a computer
3 have internet connection
1 would have a college education
2 would be near birth; 1 near death

1 adult (aged 15-49) has HIV/AIDS
The Village spends more than US $1.12 trillion on military expenditures
and only US $100 billion on development aid

If you keep your food in a refrigerator, your clothes in a closet, if you have a bed to sleep in, a roof over your head, you are richer than 75% of the entire world population

If you have a bank account, you’re one of the 30 wealthiest people in the world
18 struggle to live on US $ 1.00 per day or less…

53 struggle to live on US $ 2.00 per day or less….

“Appreciate what you have and do your best for a better world.”

To view where the other stats came from you can view them here and here. Remember, some stats vary because it’s difficult to get this kind of information accurately and some versions are outdated.

If you are having issues seeing the video from Miniature Earth, you can view it on Youtube.