RJ and Makay

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World population will cross the 7 billion mark today, according to the United Nations.  It has been 12 years since the planet’s population passed the 6 billion mark in 1999.  At that time, rising stock market values, rising incomes and declining commodity prices, along with continued progress in fighting hunger and severe poverty, had many optimistic about future growth.

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GDP per person is the best indicator of economic progress or regression, according to a recent article in The Economist. It is the value of goods produced per person in a country, equal to the country’s GDP divided by the total number of people in the country. Between 2001 and 2010, the highest annual percentage growth rate of change of GDP per capita occurred in Equatorial Guinea, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, at about 13.2%, 13% and 11.5%, respectively.

Americans’ optimism about an economic recovery, already very fragile, has taken a turn for the worse.  According to a new Gallop Poll of May 5-8, “Three of four Americans name some type of economic issue as the most important problem facing the country today. This represents the highest net mentions of the economy in two years.”

Gallop also found that Americans see their place and the U.S.’s place in the world eroding, and believe there is little that can be done about it.  Chief among the worries are high gas and other commodity prices, a weak employment picture, the possibility of higher taxes and perceived threats to Social Security and Medicare.