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RSS FeedMatters of Scale - The Plight of the Displaced
Number of people in the past decade displaced by infrastructure projects, such as road and dam construction | 80 to 90 million |
Number of people in the past decade left homeless by natural disasters including floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and landslides (based on an annual average over 25 years) | 50 million |
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Number of people in 1981 who were landless or near-landless | 938 million |
Number of people expected to be landless or near-landless in 2000 | 1.24 billion |
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Number of people per square mile in the five boroughs of New York City | 23700 |
Number of people per square mile in Jakarta, Indonesia | 130000 |
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Number of international refugees in the early 1960s | 1 million |
? in the mid-1970s | 3 million |
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Number of refugees displaced within the borders of their own countries, in 1985 | 9.5 million |
? in 1995 | 20 million |
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Number of people currently living in coastal areas vulnerable to flooding from storm surges | 46 million |
Number of people living in vulnerable areas if global warming produces a 50-centimeter rise in sea level | 92 million |
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Sources: Infrastructure displacement: The World Bank, Environment Department, Resettlement and Development: The Bankwide Review of Projects Involving Involuntary Resettlement, 1986-1993 (Washington, D.C.: 1994). Natural disasters: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Disasters Report, 1996 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996). City demographics: Hal Kane, The Hour of Departure: Forces that Create Refugees and Migrants, Worldwatch Paper 125 (Washington, D.C.: Worldwatch Institute, June 1995). Internally displaced refugees: U.S. Committee for Refugees, World Refugee Survey, 1985-1995 (Washington, D.C.: 1996). Refugees and global warming: Michael Renner, Fighting for Survival: Environmental Decline, Social Conflict, and the New Age of Insecurity (New York: Norton, 1996). Compiled by Curtis Runyan.
