Staggering stats

I am reading the very interesting and disturbing book “The End of Poverty” by Jeffrey Sachs. (Thanks, Pip :)

Here are some stats I read today that I think everyone should know:

Malaria kills approximately 3 million people every year (about 90% in Africa).

10,000 Africans die of AIDS, TB, or malaria EVERY DAY.

About 3,000 people died on September 11 during the World Trade Center attack.

The US is spending approximately $5 billion every month on the war in Iraq.

The US gave just $1 billion to the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) in 2005.
(The MCA was a project Bush initiated in 2002 to increase additional foreign aid).

In 2004, the US gave about $15 billion in foreign aid, which is 0.14% of its GNP... (it had agreed to a pledge of 0.7%).


Not finished with the book yet. More thoughts to come....