1. Over 1.3 million North Carolinians live in poverty, and wealth is distributed very unevenly across North Carolina’s citizens.  In 2008, the richest 5 percent of households had an average income that was 25.6 times greater than the average income of the poorest 20 percent of households.

 

2. Nearly 1.5 million North Carolinians lack any kind of health insurance – about one sixth of the population.

 

3. 740,000 households do not have and cannot afford a safe, stable home in N.C.  The average hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent is $12.61 - twice as much as minimum wage.  8,891 households go without heat in the winter, and more than 13,000 homes still lack indoor plumbing.

 

4. North Carolina is failing to provide all children with a sound and basic education, as required under the state’s constitution.  The gap in achievement between white and minority children, the higher dropout rates of minorities, and the prevalence of poorer-quality teachers in high-poverty and high-minority schools are clear evidence of this fact.

 

5. Millions of people around the world suffer acts of injustice on a daily basis.  There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today - more than any other time in history.  At least one out of every three women in the world has been raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise violently abused in her lifetime.  Human trafficking is the second largest and the fastest growing criminal industry in the world.  There are nearly 2 million children in the commercial sex trade.  Women in rural areas produce between 60 and 80 percent of food in developing countries, yet they own less than two percent of the land.

6. Over 884 million people worldwide (1 in 6 people) do not have access to safe drinking water sources, and 2.6 billion people lack improved sanitation facilities.  Poor sanitation and water sources have many serious repercussions.  Every 20 seconds a child dies as a result of poor sanitation – that is 1.5 million preventable deaths each year. Girls are oftendenied their right to education because their schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, healthsystems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without good water, sanitation and hygiene sustainable development is impossible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOURCES

 

1. North Carolina Justice Center, “Snapshot of Employment, Poverty, Income, and Health Coverage in North Carolina: 2008 and 2009,” http://74.220.215.210/~ncjustic/?q=node/431

2. North Carolina Justice Center, “Snapshot of Employment, Poverty, Income, and Health Coverage in North Carolina: 2008 and 2009,” http://74.220.215.210/~ncjustic/?q=node/431

3. North Carolina Housing Coalition, “Housing Facts and Statistics in NC,” http://www.nchousing.org/research_publications/facts_stats/index_html

4. North Carolina Justice Center, BTC Reports, “What Does a Sound Basic Education Cost?” Stephen Jackson. Vol. 14, no. 2. April 2008.

5. International Justice Mission, “Statistics and Factsheets,” http://www.ijm.org/statistics&factsheets/viewcategory

6. UNICEF, “Water, Sanitation and Hygiene,” http://www.unicef.org/wash/.  UN Water, “Drinking Water and Sanitation,” http://www.unwater.org/statistics_san.html.