Ninety-four percent of world income is earned by just 40% of people. Nearly 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day. Yet capitalism, despite the current recession, is thriving and Western businesses have penetrated former communist countries like Russia and China. This article examines the role of international trade in creating a situation where wealth is poorly distributed around the world, almost completely by-passing the continent of Africa.
In the 2008 United Nations Human Development Report, 177 countries are listed. All those ranked below 156, in other words classed as having the lowest human development, are in Africa. There are other hotspots of poverty in south Asia and Latin America, such as Bangladesh (140), Papua New Guinea (145) and Bolivia (117). Meanwhile wealth is concentrated in Europe, North America, Russia, Australia and some areas of southeast and east Asia such as Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea. Undoubtedly the ability to trade has helped build up the wealth of these richer countries.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
