Where in the world are you?

As usual, our minister Jody, got my wheels turning this weekend.


Have you ever thought about the demographics of our planet? It has crossed my mind, but I have not really dwelt on it much.


Have you ever really thought about the difference between how those of us that live in America versus those that do NOT live in America? Again, I have thought about it. I’m sure you fellow Americans have thought about it as well.


Have you ever gotten frustrated that you could not get in touch with someone because they did not read their email often enough? (Yes for me.) What about ones that did not even have email? (Oh my goodness yes.) And the ones that don’t answer their cell phones? (Um, certainly.) How about those that don’t even have cell phones? (Yes, yes, yes!) Do you ever find it hard to believe that there are people in the world that don’t have email or cell phones? (Resounding YES from me, again.)


Well, our minister mentioned a website called 100 people. They took the worlds demographics and converted them into numbers we can wrap our minds around. Look at this:

If the World were 100 PEOPLE:

50 would be female

50 would be male

5 would be from North America

9 would be from Latin America & the Caribbean

12 would be from Europe

61 would be from Asia

13 would be from Africa


31 would be Christian

21 would be Muslim

14 would be Hindu

6 would be Buddhist

12 would believe in other religions

16 would not be religious or identify themselves as being aligned with a particular faith

17 would speak Chinese

8 would speak Hindustani

8 would speak English

7 would speak Spanish

4 would speak Arabic

4 would speak Russian

3 would speak Bengali

2 would speak Malay-Indonesian

2 would speak French

45 would speak other languages


82 would be able to read and write

18 would not

76 males would have a primary school education

72 females would have a primary school education

66 males would have a secondary school education

63 females would have a secondary school education

1 would have a college education

83 would have access to safe drinking water

17 would use unimproved water

17 would be undernourished

53 would live on less than 2USD per day

50 would live in poverty

76 would have electricity

24 would not

34 would be cell phone subscribers

17 would be active internet users

1 would own a computer


A similar website had the following statistics:
18 would be white
82 would be non-white
89 would be hetero sexual
11 would be homosexual
5 would control 32% of the entire world’s wealth, and all of them would be US citizens
80 would live in substandard housing
24 would not have any electricity

So, apparently, I am quite the minority. I am a white Christian female with a college education, I speak English, I have a cell phone and access to the internet, and I do not live in poverty.

I live in one of the most affluent counties in my state. We live paycheck to paycheck and often feel inadequate around our more affluential friends and neighbors. This list helped me to realize that, truly, I am “rich” by the majority of the world’s standards.

While my head has known this fact for a while, the numbers broken down this way really helped me to get my mind around it.

The challenge I am issuing to myself, and to you, is this: What are we going to do with this knowledge? Do we try to introduce Jesus to those that don’t know him? Do we try to get drinking water to those that thirst? Do we try to get food to those that hunger? Do we try to teach those that cannot read? These seem like overwhelming tasks for you or me.

There are people who have devoted their lives to helping these people. If you are a member of a church, you probably support missionaries. Increasing your giving to church will help support those that are already out there working on these issues.

If you are not sure what to do about this, prayers for guidance and clarity are always beneficial for the person praying and for the issues and people being prayed for.

**I am not asking you to become a missionary or to sell all that you have to try to change the world. I just want to strike a chord within your heart. If we all changed our way of thinking just the tiniest bit, we could change the world. Compassion and generosity are contagious. If you display these traits, those around you will start trying to be the same. If you impart these traits on to your children, it will spread even faster. I wonder how long it would take to change the world?

Again, thank you for reading my ramblings!

Let me know you were here! I love to know that I am not talking to myself. Also, look through some of my previous comments and pay some of my visitors a visit as well.