PICTURE THIS GEOGRAPHY

During the period covering 1997-2005, there were 83 countries out of 193 that showed an improved GDP when compared with themselves and also in relation to the rest of the world. During this same period there were 101 countries out of 193 that had a GDP that got worse in relationship to the rest of the world. There were 2 new countries and 7 others that showed no change in relative position when compared to the rest of the countries:

…Countries.. Continents……Avg. GDPs……Total GDPs……...%

……20……..N. America………9985…………199,700…………11.008%

……15……..S. America……....6646…………...99,690…………..5.495%

……53……..Africa…………....2673…………141,669…………..7.809%

……45……..Europe…………20,031…………901,395………...49.688%

……46……..Asia……...............8210…………377,660……….. 20.817%

……14……..S. Pacific………...6714…………..93,996………….5.183% …_____ ………………… __________ … __________............................. …..193……………………………………….1,814,110……….100.000%

As is seen, Europe contains nearly half of the existing production of goods and services. Although currently, Asia only accounts for about 20% of the world's goods and services, the future looks very bright, because Asia contains more than 60% of the world's people--for production as well as consumption, as the following 2005 populations show:

Continents…….Populations……………Population Percentage………% of earth's land

Asia……..……3,913,842,171………………… 60.669%...............................21.4% Africa…………..891,437,541………………….13.818%...............................20.6% Europe………….729,341,014………………….11.305%...............................15.8%

America………...512,422,558…………………...7.943% ………………….14.8% S.America............371,271,037…………………...5.755% ………………….12.1% S.Pacific…………32,744,469……………………..510%.................................5.8%

……………….____________.............................________.......................................

……………….6,451,058,790…………………100.000%.........................................

I hope this helps in your analysis! We clearly have the manpower and resources to get the job done. Now all it will take is the willingness to cooperate with each other. I was encouraged by the 2008 Summer Olympics in China--how about you? Best wishes for a blessed fall and winter, and keep looking up!

Mark Overt Skilbred