References

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The median personal income in the US is $35,500 (US Census 2008). Ten percent of this is $3,550, and over 30 years this makes $106,500.

Mosquito nets can be distributed for $5 each, cases of malaria prevented for $1.80, deaths from malaria prevented for $600 (see note 49 in this GiveWell summary).

Tuberculosis can be cured for $20, and deaths from TB prevented for $150-$750 (see the GiveWell page on the Stop-TB Partnership).

Disability Adjusted Life Years can be averted for as low as $3 each (see our page on neglected tropical diseases).

Treating children for neglected tropical diseases produces an extra year  of school attendance for each $3 (see the J-PAL study , but note that this doesn't include the possible need for extra teachers if more class members turn up).

These differences in efficiency are taken from the list of health interventions at the Disease Control Priorities Project.

As above.

From the the Disease Control Priorities Project ($39 per DALY and a disability-loading of 0.5). The WHO-CHOICE project estimates that  treatment of trachoma is up to ten times as effective as this. See also our page on blindness.

This figure is from Guide Dogs of America who estimate $19,000 for the training of the dog. When the cost of training the recipient to use the dog is included, the cost doubles to $38,000. Other guide dog providers give similar estimates, for example Seeing Eye (the pioneering guide dog organization) estimates a total of $50,000 per person/dog partnership, while Guiding Eyes for the Blind estimates a total of $40,000.

UN Millennium Project Fact Sheet.

UNDP, Human Development Report 1998, p. 37.

As above.

The median personal income in the US is $35,500 (US Census 2008). Ten percent of this is $3,550.

Mosquito nets can be distributed for $5 each, cases of malaria prevented for $1.80, deaths from malaria prevented for $600 (see note 49 in this GiveWell summary).

Tuberculosis can be cured for $20, and deaths from TB prevented for $150-$750 (see the GiveWell page on the Stop-TB Partnership).

Disability Adjusted Life Years can be averted for as little as $3 each (see our page on neglected tropical diseases).

Treating children for neglected tropical diseases produces an extra year  of school attendance for each $3 (see the J-PAL study , but note that this doesn't include the possible need for extra teachers if more class members turn up).

This is the most up to date set of data for the world income distribution by Branko Milanovic, based on the year 2002, adjusted for inflation up to 2009 and using the new PPP ratings. It is not yet published, but it builds upon his data from 'True world income distribution, 1988 and 1993: First calculation based on household surverys alone', Economic Journal issue 112, 2002, p 75. A draft which can be downloaded here.

As above.

Here and elsewhere we use 'typical' to refer to the 'median', so the typical person is the one who earns more than half the world's population and less than the other half.

Tuberculosis can be cured for $20, and deaths from TB prevented for $150–$750 (see the GiveWell page on the Stop-TB Partnership). We have used the midpoint of this range to calculate this figure.

Experts on global health measure the burden of a disease in terms of Disability Adjusted Life Years (or DALYs) which is the number of years of healthy life lost due to premature death or disability (see more information on DALYs). The most effective health interventions cost only $3 for each DALY prevented (see our page on neglected tropical diseases).

Treating children for neglected tropical diseases produces an extra year  of school attendance for each $3 (see the J-PAL study , but note that this doesn't include the possible need for extra teachers if more class members turn up). Amazingly, this is the same intervention as the one above, so $3 can produce a year of school attendance and prevent a disability adjusted life-year worth of ill-health.

These differences in efficiency are taken from the list of health interventions at the Disease Control Priorities Project.

Tuberculosis can be cured for $20, and deaths from TB prevented for $150–$750 (see the GiveWell page on the Stop-TB Partnership). We have used the midpoint of this range to calculate this figure.

Experts on global health measure the burden of a disease in terms of Disability Adjusted Life Years (or DALYs) which is the number of years of healthy life lost due to premature death or disability (see more information on DALYs). The most effective health interventions cost only $3 for each DALY prevented (see our page on neglected tropical diseases).

Treating children for neglected tropical diseases produces an extra year  of school attendance for each $3 (see the J-PAL study , but note that this doesn't include the possible need for extra teachers if more class members turn up). Amazingly, this is the same intervention as the one above, so $3 can produce a year of school attendance and prevent a disability adjusted life-year worth of ill-health.

OECD report 2008, table 1.

‘Americans on Foreign Aid and World Hunger’, PIPA.

OECD report 2008, table 1.

CIA world factbook 2008.

2007 World Population Datasheet, Population Reference Bureau.

Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances 2009, The Hudson Institute, p. 3. This is a generous estimate of private giving, and many groups use lower figures.

This figure is used by William Easterly in his book The White Man's Burden, p. 4. and is one of the most commonly quoted.

A speech by Donald Rumsfeld on the 10th of September 2001. Footage of this speech can be seen here.

Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz, The Iraq War will cost us $3 trillion, and much more, Washington Post, March 9, 2008. Estimates for the total cost vary widely, but they are all in the trillions.

William Easterly, The utopian nightmare, Foreign Policy, Sep 2005, p. 61.

The average population over that period was 451 million, (courtesy of World Population Prospects, 2008 revision).

World Population Prospects, 2008 revision.

See the United Nations report, World population to 2300.

For a simple introduction to the demographic transition, see the relevant article in wikipedia.

This is explained very well by Hans Rosling in a video for Gapminder.

Edward Miguel and Michael Kremer, 2001. ‘Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities’, Econometrica, 72:159–217.

Estimates for the cost to raise a guide dog vary, but are all in this range, see for example, The Seeing Eye, Guide Dogs of America, or Guiding Eyes for the Blind.

From the the Disease Control Priorities Project ($39 per DALY and a disability-loading of 0.5). The WHO-CHOICE project is even more favorable, estimating that  treatment of trachoma is up to ten times more cost-effective than this. See also our page on blindness.

2008 World Development Indicators, p. 10.

2007 Aids Epidemic Update, p. 1.

2007 Aids Epidemic Update, p. 7.

This is the most up to date set of data for the world income distribution by Branko Milanovic, based on the year 2002, adjusted for inflation up to 2009 and using the new PPP ratings. It is not yet published, but it builds upon his data from 'True world income distribution, 1988 and 1993: First calculation based on household surverys alone', Economic Journal issue 112, 2002, p 75. A draft which can be downloaded here.

As above.

Here and elsewhere we use 'typical' to refer to the 'median', so the typical person is the one who earns more than half the world's population and less than the other half.

See Milanovic, p 89. His figures are that 16% of the people control 84% of the raw income and that 25% of the people control 75% of the PPP adjusted income. We referred to the former figure here as we think it is the more important one. We rounded it off conservatively to take into account the uncertainty involved and to keep the numbers simple.

This is the most up to date set of data for the world income distribution by Branko Milanovic, based on the year 2002, adjusted for inflation up to 2009 and using the new PPP ratings. It is not yet published, but it builds upon his data from 'True world income distribution, 1988 and 1993: First calculation based on household surverys alone', Economic Journal issue 112, 2002, p 75. A draft which can be downloaded here.