Basic+Costs

 = = =Cost of Ending Poverty= The millennium development goals can be boiled down to three categories: Hunger, Education, and Health Care. To be entirely self sustainable, each goal must be met simultaneously. Why these three? Because, without adequate nutrition and housing, a population has trouble performing even the most basic of tasks. Without a universal standard of education, values such as women's rights and necessary industries such has health care can not be self sustaining. Also, Environmental standards will not be adhered to unless people are educated about their benefits. Finally, everyone must have equal access to health care. Populations can not sustain any of the aforementioned goals if the people are crippled by chronic epidemics like Polio, TB, AIDS, and Influenza. Most of these diseases are preventable and many are also curable. To break out of cyclical poverty and to produce a productive middle class, all three categories: hunger/extreme poverty, education, and health care, must be fulfilled virtually simultaneously.
 * Total //annual// cost of meeting this goal globally = $14,390,000,000,000 ~ $14.39 trillion annually
 * total U.S. spending in 2008 = $2,983,000,000 ~ $2.98 trillion annually

=Eradicating Extreme Hunger and Poverty=
 * 3,000,000,000 people live on less than $912.50 annually ~ 50% of the worlds population live on less than $2.50 a day


 * annual cost to bring these people to "middleclass" status ($1300 annually) = $1,162,500,000 ~ $1.16 trillion annually


 * this is based on the U.S. dollar in 2005 - current inflation brings total to $1,255,500,000 ~ $1.25 trillion annually



=Cost of Universal Education=
 * Average cost per student in the U.S. for a public primary and secondary education (K-12) = $111,000 ~ $8,500 annually


 * Most of this cost is covered by government spending, but the money comes from citizens' taxes.


 * Number of kids in 2005 aged 5 - 14 = 1,220,454,000


 * Average cost per year for universal public primary and secondary education (K-12) = $10,373,859,000,000 ~ $10.37 trillion[[image:http://www.pacificislandbooks.com/JPEGS/Time%20&%20Tide%20School%20Children.jpg width="221" height="154" align="right"]]



=Universal Health Care=
 * Average cost per person for a U.S. level of healthcare = $476 annually


 * Total cost = $2,856,000,000,000 ~ $2.86 trillion annually

=Behind the Numbers= The middle class status was based on the cost of living a middle class existence in an arbitrary developing country. For sake of a standard, India was used to set the bar. To maintain a standard level of education, a standard level of expenditure is required. Due to United States' literacy rates, economic success, and placement in higher education, its education system and costs were selected to set the standard. Also, since a teacher's salary would be much higher in relation to other jobs (assuming they are earning the same amount as their U.S. counterparts) teaching would become a desirable job. This would lead to competition to get teaching jobs, which in turn would lead to a well educated and well qualified teaching force. With a well educated population, maintaining a standard level of health care would not be particularly difficult.

Sources -

Health Care: []

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U.S. spending on education: []

Record of U.S. spending: []

Inflation Calculator: [|http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.html]

Poverty in Numbers: []

India's Middle Class: []

Links to other MDGs Eradicating Hunger Achieving Universal Education Empowering Women Poverty and Health Insuring Environmental Sustainability Developing a Global Partnership for Development Basic Costs Demographics