Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Today's lesson in perspective: open defecation


NYT has a little piece today about a Unesco and WHO report concluding that 1.1 billion-with-a-b people "practice" open defecation. That means about 17% of all humans poop on the ground, though NYT helpfully adds that "[c]overed pits and outhouses are not considered 'open defecation,' while buckets and long drops over running water are." Way back in 1990, the figure was 25%. So compare any hits to your standard of living to the millions of people who no longer have to poop on the ground.