Us and Them, let’s personalize it a bit.
In this post I want to share a bit of factual data. Numbers and statistics are pretty boring. Trust me, I’m the first person to yawn when this kind of stuff makes an appearance, but stick with me. What I want you to take away from this post is some information that compares our daily lives to those in the Middle East… to make it a little more approachable and to help use this information to understand some of the conclusions I hope to guide you through in later posts.
Percentage of total household consumption expenditures going to food
U.S. | U.K. | Australia | Mexico | Brazil | Iran | Russia | China | India | Tunisia | Egypt | Nigeria |
7% | 9% | 11% | 24% | 25% | 26% | 28% | 33% | 35% | 36% | 38% | 40% |
SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Here I’ve found a very simple set of numbers describing the percent of income by nation devoted to basic survival (Foroohar, 2011). Note that the more industrialized nations (yes folks that’s us) tend to have a lot more of our money left in their pockets after providing food for their families. I was stunned to realize how affluent we are simply by the luck of where we were born or live. Even though I suspect we know this intellectually a gentle reminder never hurts.
Some vital statistics
yemen | bahrain | syria | lybia | egypt | united states | |
population (in millions) | 24 | 1.2 | 22.5 | 6.597 | 82 | 313.232 |
mobile phones (in millions) | 8.313 | 1.578 | 9.6 | 5.004 | 55.352 | 286 |
percent of population with mobile phones | 34.64% | 131.50% | 42.67% | 75.85% | 67.50% | 91.31% |
literacy | 50% | 86.5 | 79,6 | 82.6 | 71.4 | 99% |
gross domestic product per capita | 2600 | 40400 | 4800 | 13800 | 6200 | 47400 |
unemployment | 35 | 15 | 8.3 | 30% | 9.7 | 9.7 |
population living below poverty line | 45.2 | na | 11.9 | (about 1/3) | 20% | 12% |
area (in square km) | 527 | 760 | 185,180 | 1,759,540 | 1,001,450 | 9,826,675 |
arable | 2,91 % | 2.82 | 24.80% | 1.03% | 2.92 | 18.01 |
airports | 55 | 4 | 104 | 137 | 86 | 15079 |
roadways in km | 71,300 | 3851 | 2052 | 100,024 | 65,050 | 6506204 |
(The world, n.d.)
I concede that this is a pretty ugly set of numbers… I pulled this information from our very own CIA’s data to see what a basic set of demographic data looked like across the middle east compared to the united states. Some of things that really stood out to me were the very significant differences in infrastructure (roads and airports). Here in our own country we think nothing of getting from point a to point b. The worst we really go thru is to either refer to a map or that handy little GPS device. We have cars, roads and lots of airports that allow us to move around with ease. The Middle Eastern countries aren’t quite so fortunate. Of course there’s not so much spending money after eating so even if the infrastructure were in place there might not be many people that could afford to use it.
Next take a look at the incomes and literacy rates. We take for granted in this country that everyone can read, but imagine for a moment how your view of current events, even world events, would be limited by being unable to read and gather information for one self. Although it seems at times our consumption of what is happening in the world is limited to quick sound bytes from a local news program rather. But that is fodder for a totally different discussion. Next we see that little of the land in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region is considered farmable. Perhaps this contributes to the statistic I presented earlier showing the percentage of income that is spent on food. Lastly on the same note are the high rates of unemployment. These numbers are difficult to come by as they depend on government reporting. I have seen many reports suggesting unemployment rates in the 30 percentile range. By contrast in the US we are facing unemployment in the 10 percent range, and we all feel the squeeze. It’s common to listen to any news program and hear reports about the impact of job loss and jobless rates here in the U.S. Imagine if the numbers were tripled!
We begin to see a pattern emerging of an area marked by poverty, not so great education, a pretty mean environment as far as ability to raise food for harvest and not very good job prospects. Added to the lack of mobility and disposable income I pointed out earlier it’s not hard to see these people as fairly isolated from the rest of the world. I draw the conclusion that this population is primarily focused on getting by (aka survival) with not many resources available to do so.
Does it strike you as odd that while we live in relative wealth and luxury we are less connected than those in the Middle East? Proportionately the sacrifice that people make to have access to internet and social media is staggering. I found this amazing when viewed in terms of the personal choice of how disposable income is used. Wow!
Another article that I read discussed the role of religion on the economic and technological growth. This article points out the same data regarding literacy, poverty and governance that I have brought forward but a new thought is explored in the relationship of religions of the world and their relationship to and the apparent shunning of such growth by traditional Islam beliefs. It is suggested that the catholic/protestant Reformation era brought forward ideals of self improvement and individual accountability provided a favorable climate for the development of capitalistic societies (Cassidy, 2011). In contrast traditional Islamist governance did not accommodate the growth of a financial sector. Also inheritance laws deemed that 2/3 of property must be distributed to all heirs thus limiting the passage of intact family wealth (Cassidy, 2011).
Clearly the differences in culture and lifestyle are a complex issue. However I think we are seeing some of these differences at their tipping point as personal frustrations and interaction with the rest of the world increase. The ability to communicate is becoming a high priority. People are overcoming the lack of infrastructure and learning about the outside world in a way that has never been possible before.
References:
Cassidy,J. (2011). Prophet motive. New Yorker, 87(2), 32-35. Retrieved March 31, 2011, Database, from the Academic Search Complete Database.
Foroohar, R. (2011). Food fights. Time, 177(8), 19. Retrieved March 31, 2011, Database, from the Academic Search Complete Database.
n/a (nd). The world factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, Retrieved March 31, 2011 Google Search https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ym.html
