September/October 1995 Issue

A Growing Inequality

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The following statistics highlight the urgency of the drive for lower consumption–and birthrates.

WORLD POPULATION

1965: 3.3 billion
1995: 5.7 billion
2025, midlevel projection: 8.3 billion

NET POPULATION INCREASE

per second: 3
per hour: 10,600
per day: 254,000

PERCENTAGE USE OF BIRTH CONTROL WORLDWIDE

1983: 45%
1994: 57%

FERTILITY RATE PER WOMAN WORLDWIDE

1950: 4.97
1990: 3.38

FERTILITY RATE IN ITALY, 1990 (world’s lowest): 1.3

FERTILITY RATE IN RWANDA, 1990 (world’s highest): 8.5

PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION IN DEVELOPING WORLD

1965: 71%
1995: 80%
2025: 85%

PERCENTAGE OF WORLD’S POPULATION IN URBAN AREAS

1965: 36%
1995: 45%
2025: 61%

WORLD’S LARGEST URBAN AREA, 1995

Tokyo: 26.8 million

ANNUAL CONSUMPTION OF ENERGY PER CAPITA

(expressed in kilograms of oil)
United States: 7,662
China: 601
Mali: 22

CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS PER CAPITA, 1991

United States: 19.53 metric tons
China: 2.20 metric tons
Mali: 0.04 metric tons

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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