More people in the world have cellphones than the number of people who have access to toilets

toilet

Here’s a potentially disturbing statistic from a UN report, depending on how you think about it. There are currently more people in the world that have cellphones than people with access to toilets. There are 7 billion people in the world. 6 billion of them have cellphones. Only 4.5 billion have access to toilets.

The reason why I say it’s disturbing is because in some way, it sounds like there’s more being done about getting cellphones into people’s hands than there is getting more sanitation into people’s reaches. While there are obviously a lot of these people in developing countries, and the governments and infrastructures of those places are a whole other story, it’s a little disconcerting when cellphones aren’t very uncommon in those places as well.

It’s a strange statistic, I know. They’re not even really connected with each other. But somehow, it all makes sense and as Leslie Horn of Gizmodo says, it’s something worth drawing attention to.

[via UN, Gizmodo, image via Tony Alter]

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