Marcus Eduardo de Oliveira economist and Professor of Economics in Sao Paulo, Brazil produces some statistics.
One in two people live on less than two dollars a day
One in three have no access to electricity
One in five have no access to drinking water
One in six is illiterate
One in every seven adults suffers from malnutrition
One child in three suffers from malnutrition
Every five seconds a child dies of hunger in the world, although there is fertile land for growing food.
More than 300 million people worldwide have a life expectancy below 60 years, in part by poor diet and because of diseases resulting from poor diet. Thirty-five percent of the world population does not have energy and sufficient proteins in their diet. In the world there are 2 billion people with anemia, including 5.5 million who live in countries of advanced capitalism.
80% of global wealth is in the hands of 15% of the "privileged." Four Americans - Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Warren Buffet and Larry Ellyson - possessed a few years ago a fortune equivalent to the GDP of 42 of the poorest nations, concentrated in their hands, countries with a total population of over 600 million empty stomachs and starving mouths.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the money that the world designates to military spending for eleven days would feed and heal all the sick and starving children on the planet. Specialists in the subject believe that what the armed forces spend in only three hours could wipe out diseases such as diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles and polio, which together kill 4 million children per year.
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