Hermes Index

(With apologies to Harpers Magazine)


1. Dollars of debt owed by sub-Saharan Africa 9not counting South Africa):230 billion

2. Dollars transfered out of Africa by the IMG since the 1980s: 3 billion

3. Percentage of infant deaths woldwide by theyear 2000 which are expected to be African children: 40

4. Percentage increase in excternal debt burden of sub=Saharan Africa since 1980, when the IMF and World Bank began imposing their "structural adjustment programs": 400

5. Times more spent on debt interest payments than on health care in Africa: 4

6. Number of people forcibly displaced by World Bank projects between 1986 and 1993: 2 million

7. Percent of pest management projects approved between January 1988 and January 1995 that received a full environmental assessment: 1


1-5: http://www.50years.org/factsheets/africa.html; 6: http://www.50years.org/factsheets/environment.html ; 7: http://www.50years.org/factsheets/pesticide.html