As we enter 2013, the world population has surpassed 7 billion people.

How can we get a sense of what it means … and who we are?

One way is by statistically representing the world population as 100 people.  That way, complex issues become more comprehensible and help us get a stronger sense of the big picture.

Here is a video introduction to the 100 Person Project.

The 100 People Project: An Introduction from 100 People Foundation on Vimeo.

And here is an infographic of some of the highlights of the research.

by KVSStudio. Check out our data visualization blog.

50 would be female
50 would be male

26 would be children
There would be 74 adults,
8 of whom would be 65 and older

There would be:
60 Asians
15 Africans
14 people from the Americas
11 Europeans

33 Christians
22 Muslims
14 Hindus
7 Buddhists
12 people who practice other religions
12 people who would not be aligned with a religion

12 would speak Chinese

5 would speak Spanish
5 would speak English
3 would speak Arabic
3 would speak Hindi
3 would speak Bengali
3 would speak Portuguese
2 would speak Russian
2 would speak Japanese
62 would speak other languages

83 would be able to read and write; 17 would not

7 would have a college degree
22 would own or share a computer

77 people would have a place to shelter them
from the wind and the rain, but 23 would not

1 would be dying of starvation
15 would be undernourished
21 would be overweight

87 would have access to safe drinking water
13 people would have no clean, safe water to drink

If you want more information on this …

The detailed research and source information can be
found here and the statistics provided by Donella Meadows in 1990 that originally inspired the 100 People Project can be viewed here. A different groups research is here. And the Snopes research is here.