What Eliminating the Bottom 5% Looks Like

On Appfrica, there is a fascinating conversation about "eliminating" the countries with the lowest contribution to global GDP:

Why is it not a surprise that so many of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia? But why is it a surprise that there are a full 81 countries on this list - representing nearly 3 billion people - and that they contribute a total of only 5% to worldwide economic activity?!

(Follow the link below to read the entire blog post, but see also this list of the countries, in reverse order of magnitude):

Zimbabwe (1), Burundi, DR Congo, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Malawi, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Afghanistan, Togo, Guinea, Uganda, Madagascar, the Central African Republic, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma), Rwanda, Mozambique, East Timor, the Gambia (2), Bangladesh, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Lesotho, Ghana, Haiti, Tajikistan, the Comoros, Cambodia, Laos, Benin, Kenya, Chad, the Solomon Islands, Kyrgyzstan, India (3), Nicaragua, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Mauritania, Pakistan, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, Ivory Coast, Zambia, the Yemen, Cameroon, Djibouti, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Nigeria (4), Guyana, the Sudan, Bolivia, Moldova, Honduras, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Bhutan, Egypt (5), Vanuatu, Tonga, Paraguay, Morocco, Syria, Swaziland, Samoa, Guatemala, Georgia, the Congo, Iraq, Armenia, Jordan, Cape Verde, the Maldives, Fiji and Namibia (6).

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/397-eliminating-the-bottom-5/

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Stephanie Seale

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