Worldwide, 1.3 billion people live on less than $1/day. In Sub-Saharan Africa, this is true for a staggering 70 to 80 % of the population.

Worldwide, 82 children per 1000 die before their fifth birthday. In sub-Saharan Africa, it's 173 per 1000. In the United States, 8. In Japan, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and Switzerland, it's a five-way tie for the world's lowest under-5 mortality rate at 4 per 1000.

Worldwide, 81% of the population have safe drinking water, 19% do not. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 54% have it, 46% do not.

Worldwide, 57% of the population use adequate sanitation facilities, 43% do not.

The world adult literacy rate is 83% for males and 69% for females.

60-70% of the people in most developing countries earn less than their nation's average income.

One billion people, a fifth of humanity, are chronically hungry. At least two billion suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. This debilitating condition robs people--especially children--of physical health, the potential for prosperity and hope for a better future.

Every day, 35,000 children die of hunger-related causes. That's roughly equivalent to a Hiroshima-sized bomb being dropped on the world's children every three to four days.

The Food and Agriculture Organization's 2000 report notes that progress toward cutting world hunger in half by 2015 has fallen behind target.

Source for all above: United Nations

800 million people worldwide are undernourished - one-quarter of whom are children under five. Source: World Food Program

The world's seven richest men could wipe out global poverty. Their combined wealth is more than enough to provide the basic needs of the poorest quarter of the world's people.
Source : http://www.gdrc.org/icm/data/d-snapshot.html

[U.S. Development Assistance]

U.S. Official Development Assistance (ODA) expressed as a percentage of GNP: 0.1%

Rank of U.S. among 22 donor nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): 22 (last)

Average percentage the other 21 OECD nations contributed to ODA of their GNP: 0.33% -- over three times higher than the U.S. contribution

Target percentage of GNP that donor nations should contribute to GNP, based on U.N. agreements: 0.70% -- seven times as much as the U.S. contributes

[Microenterprise]

In Africa, women account for more than 60 % of the rural labor force and contribute up to 80 % of food production, yet receive less than 10 % of credit provided to farmers.

Fewer than 2 % of poor people have access to financial services (credit or savings) from sources other than money lenders.

The World Bank estimates that there are now over 7,000 microfinance institutions (MFIs), serving some 16 million poor people in developing countries. The total cash turnover of MFIs worldwide is estimated at US$2.5 billion and the potential for new growth is outstanding, as the sector has been growing at a rate of 30% annually. The repayment rate is about 97%.

Though women appear to benefit most, studies indicate that many loans awarded to and paid back by women are in fact used by men.

The widely-imitated Grameen Bank in Bangladesh aims to provide credit to those in extreme poverty. Some 94 % of those who meet the bank's criteria and take up loans are women. Grameen borrowers keep up repayments at a rate of around 98%. The Bank lends US$30 million a month to 1.8 million needy borrowers.

Studies have shown that during an eight-year period, among the poorest in Bangladesh with no credit service of any type, only 4 % pulled themselves above the poverty line. But with individuals and families with credit from the Grameen Bank, more than 48% rose above the poverty line.

Source all above:
http://www.gdrc.org/icm/data/d-snapshot.html

[Land Tenure]

The top 10% of landowners in Bangladesh own over 50% of the country's arable land.

Source: United Nations

[Travel]

By 2010 tourism will be the largest industry in the world. Over one billion people travel abroad per year.
(source: World Travel Organization, 2000)

Less than 10% of all tourist dollars ends up in the hands of the local economy.
(Source: World Travel Organization, 2000)

[Pesticides]

Many World Bank development projects actually increase farmers' access to agrochemicals, despite the Bank's policy on reducing reliance on pesticides.
Source: World Bank Progress Towards IPM Uneven, PANUPS, Pesticide Action Network North America, September 28, 2000.

Chinese farmers were able to stop using fungicides to control a major disease, just by planting a mixture of two different varieties of rice.
Source: Zhu, Y. et al., "Genetic diversity and disease control in rice," Nature, August 17, 2000, pp. 718-722.

China is one of the world's largest users and producers of pesticides.
Source: Pesticides on the Rise in China, PANUPS, Pesticide Action Network North America, May 26, 2000.

[Deforestation]

While a number of factors contribute to deforestation, timber transnationals such as MacMillan Bloedel, Mitsubishi and Georgia Pacific play a central role. Commercial timber harvests have increased by 50 percent between 1965 and 1990.
Source: Joshua Karliner, The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization, (Sierra Club Books, 1997). http://www.igc.org/trac/feature/planet/fact_2.html

More than three million people die each year from diarrhea. Most are children.

Between 1970 and 1990, women's life expectancy rose 20% faster than men's. But women in the developing world live an average of 17 years less than women in industrialized countries.
Source: United Nations

[Research]

Only 5-10% of the limited funds available for health research are currently used to improve the health of 90% of the world's population (The 10/90 Report on Health Research, World Health Organization, 1999)

[Infectious diseases]

Infectious diseases are still the number one killer in developing countries, whereas they account for only 5-7% of deaths in industrialized nations.

If not treated, HIV-infected individuals act as a reservoir for the TB virus. This is leading to the rapid development of multi-drug-resistant strains of TB. And unlike AIDS, multi-drug-resistant TB can be spread by nothing more than a cough or a sneeze.

Infectious diseases are responsible for 25% of all deaths worldwide.

Six infectious diseases cause 90% of all infectious disease deaths.
They are pneumonia, AIDS, diarrheall diseases, tuberculosis, malaria,
and measles. Low-cost prevention and/or treatment strategies are available for all of them.

Concerted public efforts have proven successful in combating a range
of infectious diseases. Smallpox has been eradicated. Polio is all
but eradicated. Guinea-worm disease cases were reduced by 90% in the last
15 years. Leprosy cases were reduced 80% in the last 15 years.

Misdiagnosis, improper treatment (under use of antibiotics in the developing world/over use of antibiotics in developed countries), and the heavy use of antibiotics for livestock, are all contributing to the rapid development of drug resistance.

Smallpox was eradicated in the 1970's. In the last 20 years this has prevented 350 million new cases of smallpox (more than the entire population of the U.S.) and has prevented 40 million deaths (close to the estimated total deaths in World War II).

Source for al above : World Health Organization

[AIDS]

World-wide over 50 million people have become infected by the HIV
virus, and there have been 18 million AIDS related deaths.

70% of adults infected by the HIV virus are living in Africa.
75% of all AIDS related deaths have occurred in Africa.

In southern Africa, AIDS is set to wipe out half a century of
development gains as measured by life expectancy at birth. From 44
years in the early 1950s, life expectancy rose to 59 in the early
1990s. Now, a child born between 2005 and 2010 can once again expect
to die before his or her 45th birthday."

Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death for people infected by HIV.

Source for all above: UNAIDS, 2000

[Refugees]

75% of refugees and displaced persons are women and children.
Source: Wistat, 1994 & UNHCR at http://www.feminist.org/other/beijnums.html

[Discrimination]

Homosexuality is not il-legal in Egyptian law, but the government has some regulations concerning "offences against public morals and sensitivities," which could be used against homosexuals.
Source: International Lesbian & Gay Association (http://www.ilga.org/Information/legal_survey/africa/egypt.htm)

Despite the growing number of gays in Egypt, homosexuality is still a practice that is taboo and therefore largely hidden. Police have been known to arrest gays as they leave night clubs and friends and families of those who have made known their homosexuality are looked down upon in their community.

Source: Lilian Liang, Middle East Times, "Hiding Themselves in the Crowd," August 13, 1999
http://www.metimes.com/issue99-33/eg/egypt_gay_underground.htm

Egyptian gay activists are angered that the government has closed down many public baths in Cairo for "renovation", which is being viewed as another crackdown on homosexuals. Gays often use these ancient baths as meeting places to avoid bars. The activists also claim that the government has shut down gay-related Egyptian web sites.

Source: Will O'Brien, Tampa Bay Coalition News, "Closure of Ancient Baths Angers Gays," February 23, 2001. (http://home.gay.com/zeke2U/files/News4Briefs.htm)

Newspapers in Egypt are reporting crackdowns on organized "Satanists" and groups that threaten stability. Most, however, see this as a blatant attack on homosexuals. Some are hypothesizing that the frequent arrests of gays in Egypt is being used as a diversion to more serious problems, including corruption, recession and political instability.
Source: The Gayteway to South Africa, "Gays Again Scapegoats for Africa's Economic Failures," May 17, 2001. (http://www.q.co.za/2001/2001/05/17-egypt.html)