Seriously, we’ve never been so excited to watch someone talk about statistics.
In just four minutes, learn everything you need to know about the relationship between income and lifespan, and how the wildly the world has changed since 1810. Very cool.
The U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals were created to fight poverty and stimulate economies in Africa between 2000-2015, but whether the project will be a success remains to be seen.
“Unless an urgent rescue package is developed to accelerate fulfillment of all the MDGs, we are likely to witness the greatest collective failure in history.” – Oxfam
In order to fight doubts about the quality or safety of its new vehicles, Toyota looks to increase the time it takes to test new models.
“As we looked at this past generation of vehicles it did seem to be all about the growth of the company, and there were lapses. We are definitely reforming the processes to be ultracareful.” – Randy Stevens, Employee at the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, MI
Development is the process through which relatively poor countries’ economies become richer, larger, and more complicated. In addition to simple economic growth, development also implies the formation of financial institutions and a diversity of industries and activities. Economies undergoing development are also called developing countries or emerging markets. The development of China in the last 20 or so years from a relatively poor, rural, state-led economy into a vibrant, dynamic, more capitalist power has impressed many journalists and economists alike.
The World Bank is an organization whose job it is to help poor countries achieve economic development through loans and advice. It gives out about $30 billion every year to 100 countries.
Economic development affects quality of life in a truly tangible way – here are some fun facts to impress your friends.
“The spread of globalization can kind of be measured by the spread of Western bathroom practices.” – David Praeger, Author of Poop Culture: How America Is Shaped by Its Grossest National Product
Normally, banks make loans to customers who need a large sum of money immediately to purchase a house or a car or to start a business. These customers are attractive to the banks because they promise to repay their loans with a significant amount of interest.
A microloan is a very small loan for individuals or entrepreneurs – often those living in poverty – who aren’t as attractive to traditional large financial institutions. Banks decide whether they want to lend money based on how likely they are to make a profit by doing so. Things they consider to make their decision are the size of the loan, interest rate charged, and the borrower’s credit quality (or the risk involved in lending to a specific person).
Microloans are available in the U.S., but they’re even more popular in developing nations with a high poverty rate. The average size of a microloan secured through the U.S. Small Business Administration is $13,000. The size of an average microloan worldwide is $1,026. To make up for the higher risk involved in lending to people who may not be able to pay back their loan, microloans often have a much higher interest rate than traditional loans. Interest rates on commercial loans in the U.S. are typically around 7-8%, but they can be more than 20% on micro-loans!
Still, microloans are important to the development of a struggling economy. They are sometimes the only opportunity a poor entrepreneur has to raise enough money to start up a potentially successful business.