A friend posted these figures on Facebook today.
The world spent $1735 Billion on war in 2012. It would take $135 Billion to TOTALLY ERADICATE poverty.
That’s less than a tithe. We could do so much more to change the world by defeating poverty. Do you think war would be less necessary if there were no longer poverty or is it in fact war that causes (or at least maintains) most of the poverty in the world? Food for thought.
3 thoughts on “Troubling statistic”
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This is a staggering statistic. Do you remember what the source was? I’d be curious. Tavis Smiley is one of my favorite talk show people and his book, The Rich and the Rest of Us, is really thought provoking. My husband is using it in his college class on peace studies issues. Tavis Smiley is a sane voice raising issues of education, race, crime, and justice.
The sited statistic (see photo added to original post) may be a claim from Documentary (2008) “The End of Poverty” that if wealthy countries increased their combined foreign aid budgets to between between $135 and $195 billion for an entire decade AND allocated the money perfectly, then the most extreme global poverty (defined as those living on less than $1 per day,) could be eliminated by 2025. The first about war spending was discussed by Kevin Breen at Correctology.com. He seemed to think that the $1735 Billion figure was actually ALL Miltary spending not just war spending. He also pointed out that the US and other countries are spending large amounts of money on programs to reduce poverty already. So this figure is misleading. How ever even if these particular figures aren’t exact. It is still a commentary on our priorities as a world. Quite frankly I think if we could stop warring and greed, poverty would probably end. War and greed go hand in hand.
AMEN to the last.