Golden Billion
Golden Billion is an emblem that is meant to designate wealthiest humans living mostly in the developed countries with all that is necessary for a comfortable and a secure life. Golden Billion reveals the striking income gap between persons in the poor and the rich countries. (Dias Murillo and Teles 1480).
The current level of revolutions in science and technology that has expanded into Information Technology revolution contributes to both unity and differentiation of human kind. For instance, while the ecological, social and political intensity levels in the world is growing, the gap between regions and countries, poor and rich people widens, in that, capital and latest technologies are accumulated in the most developed nations. There is increased shifting of highly qualified specialist and intellectual potential from the developing countries to the most developed countries. As a result, when the few rich people in the developing nations suffer from diseases and accidents, they fly to the Western developed countries to seek for advanced medical care due to the poor medical facilities in their home countries.
IT revolutions gives the rich countries a more privileged and profitable position. For instance, data from the International Telecommunication Union show that in 2017 and 2019, 81% and 86.6% internet users respectively live in golden billion (developed countries). The current worldwide disaster, Covid-19 outbreak have posed adverse effects on the education and economy of least developed countries as compared to developed countries. Students and employees in developed countries carry on with their studies and work respectively through online platforms while most of those in developing nations lack electronic devices and access to internet which are necessary for the online platforms.
The income gap between the poor and the rich countries is very wide. For instance, in 2018, a sixth of the world population from the most developed nation were receiving almost 80% of the world income whereas nearly 57% of the planetary population from the poorest nation received 6% of the world income with 1.2 billion people receiving less than a dollar in a day. During the 2019/2020 devastating Australia bush fires, golden billion countries including Japan, USA, New Zealand and France joined forces by offering operational aids and highly experienced troops. to help Australia fire fighters. On the other hand, most of the poor undeveloped countries could not afford to offer any operational aid due to their unstable economic status. (Shahparvari and Shahrooz et al 715).
In the current outbreak of Corona Virus, developed countries are in a better position to fight the pandemic than the least developed countries. Corona virus precautions needs one to self-quarantine and at a greater extent total lockdown is necessary. People in the developing nations may not be able to practice the precautions since they depend on their daily earnings for basic needs, and total lockdown could even lead to death as a result of hunger. (Nishiura and Hiroshi et al 330).
The entire world becomes increasingly structured in the area of world trade and communication due to globalization. This increases the specialization of certain regions and countries in the world’s divisions of labor. For instance, the population of least developed and developing countries working in the fields of art, science, light processing, electronics and education industries, which are the most ecologically secure fields, is extremely lower than in the advanced countries. Many of the environmental unfriendly industry like mining and chemical enterprises are transferred to developing countries due to the severe environmental laws in the western developed countries. In a short period of time, these industries destroy cultural practices and social relations.
In conclusion, IT revolution has greatly changed the world’s financial flows direction in that huge capital today goes to the advanced countries since advanced technology requires developed infrastructure, high industrial culture and highly skilled and educated specialists. Golden Billion nations are the major consumers of high technological, knowledge oriented production leaving the poorest countries no opportunity to bridge the gap and attain sustainable developments. This has greatly contributed to the political and social instability in the present world.