Sebuah Ilusi Optik

1. The average Japanese women can expect to live to be 84. The average Botswanan will reach just 39. During the Roman Empire, life expectancy was just 22 years; 1500 years later, it reached 33; now, Japense have the highest life expectancy that is predicted to increase. In Central and South Africa, though, US Census Bureau predicts a drop in life expectancy in 51 countries ... primarly because of the HIV/Aids pandemic.
2. A third of the world's obese people live in the developing world. Obesity related conditions cost the US $118 billion in the 1990s, more than double the $47 billion attributable to smoking. The type of diet we intake is cited as the chief cause.
3. The US and Britain have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developing world. For every 1,000 American women aged between fifteen and nineteen, there was 52.1 births, compared with 2.9 in Korea and 4.6 in Japan. UNICEF indicates that a key factor in reducing teen pregnancies is equipping young people to make informed choices.
4. China has 44 million missing women. For every 100 baby girls born in China in 2000, there were 116.8 baby boys. In China and India, sex-selective abortions are illegal but still common. China's 'one child' policy has meant that many births go unreported; these unregistered children won't be able to, for example, go to school or receive state-funded healthcare.
5. Brazil has more Avon ladies than members of its armed services. 450,000 personnel on active service, and 700,000 revendadoras (a.k.a. Avon ladies). Global beauty market is $95 billion and growing 7% every year. Avon's own reserach shows that 90% of Brazilian women considered beauty products to be a necessity, not a luxury.
6. Eighty-one percent of the world's executions in 2002 took place in just three countries: China, Iran and the USA. Gallup poll in 2003 showed that 74 percent of Americans support capital punishment for those convicted of murder. In China, most executions take place after rallies in front of massive crowds, and prisoners are often paraded through the streets on their way to their final destination.
7. British supermarkets know more about their consumers than the British government does. Loyalty cards, aimed to save you some bucks at the grocery counter, gather sophisticated information about your spending patterns. The problem? Such information is then sold, or used against you in court or taken by the government without your permission.
8. Every cow in the European Union is subsidised by $2.50 a day. That's more than what 75 per cent of Africans have to live on. World Bank reports than Japense cows get $7.50 per day. Of course, government costs are passed onto the consumers in terms of milk and beef prices.
9. In more than 70 countries, same-sex relationships are illegal. In nine countries, the penalty is death. Nine countries include Mauritania, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Chechen Republic, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, more than 4,000 homosexuals have been executed.
10. One in five of the world's people live on less than a $1/day. Through the 1990s, there was a 7% improvement in poverty. Poverty, as it turns out, is completely avoidable. For less than 1% of the income of the wealthiest countries each year, the worst effects of poverty can be greatly diminished. At least four times between 2000 and 2003, rich countries pledged 0.7% of their income and poor countries promised political reforms for accountable implementation. As it turns out, rich didn't follow through on pledges and poor are plagued with corruption.

p/s : Cukuplah 10 fakta untuk kali ini. Kamu hafal dan hadam sepuasnya dahulu. 40 fakta lagi akan menyusul kemudian dikala saya tidak lapang untuk menulis. =) Oh ya.. maaf jika entri ini panjang. Entri ini tidak cukup ringkas rupanya.. Ceh!