Global problems of mankind and ways to solve them. Poverty is an eternal problem. Billions of people live "on the edge. In the modern world, large and even global

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Without borders: why modern culture strives for framelessness

Frameless windows, TVs, smartphones and even paintings. Why the modern world no longer wants to keep itself within the boundaries of reason - in a review prepared in conjunction with the Honor brand.

Gone are the days when we limited ourselves to one function. We are constantly learning, expanding our boundaries, striving for multitasking, trying on different roles. And the culture has become the same. The genres of cinema, theater, music are boldly mixed with each other, so it becomes almost impossible to determine where one ends and the other begins. Frames are also disappearing at the household level: we like to watch movies on a limitless screen with the effect of complete immersion, equip apartments with floor-to-ceiling windows and watch videos on modern frameless smartphones.

Architecture: frameless windows and glass houses

A window that is not cut by the cross beams creates a feeling of free movement of light and air, and if you open such a window completely, the boundaries between the outside world and the house are completely erased. By the way, frameless frames are made of much more durable glass: it is no coincidence that not only windows, but also walls are often made of them. The quintessential trend is the world's most transparent Institute of Technology building in Tokyo. The rectangular box house is located in the middle of the park, and the transparent walls create a complete illusion of being in the forest. A more avant-garde version is the iceberg-like headquarters of the Health Department of the Baku Lands in Bilbao. On the contrary, it is sandwiched between classical buildings, which further emphasizes its unusual appearance.

Painting: baguette, goodbye

The trend to hang unframed paintings on the walls appeared about three years ago, but in fact, we all encountered it much earlier. Remember, as a child, my mother fastened our first works with a button on the wall? A picture without a frame a priori looks a little homemade, a little more comfortable and as if unfinished, and designers actively use this. In the new season, they not only do not "dress" works of art, but do not even always hang them on the wall. Large meter paintings can be seen standing on the floor behind a sofa or bed, against a background of plain walls. As if this is not a house at all, but a workshop of a contemporary artist. By the way, mirrors in modern interiors are also increasingly “undressed”. This is especially true for minimalist apartments.

Hi-tech: TVs without frames

The 360 ​​° bezel-less design is extremely popular with TV manufacturers: the devices fit into the interior, becoming a part, or rather, an extension of the space. In the coming season, they are hung on the walls, installed on special easels instead of paintings, and even placed on the ceiling. The volumetric screen (up to 200 inches or more), the absence of bezels and the exotic location create a feeling of complete immersion and detachment from reality.

Interiors: no skirting boards and furniture without handles

You will no longer be able to fall below the plinth. An interior detail that seemed irreplaceable until recently is a thing of the past. The joint between the wall and the floor now looks minimalistic, strict and graphic. No extra lines. One solid geometry. Modern furniture is also becoming more and more laconic. The handles are simplified and often go away altogether. The decor is reduced to a minimum, and the silhouettes of interior items themselves are becoming stricter: the fewer details that distract our attention, the better.

Poverty and misery of billions of people remains one of the global problems of humanity in the 21st century. In 1992, according to the decision of the UN General Assembly, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was established, which since 1993 has been regularly celebrated on 17 October. This date was not chosen by chance. Five years before the decision of the UN General Assembly, on October 17, 1987, in Paris, on the Trocadero square, a rally for the observance of human rights and the elimination of poverty was held, which brought together about 100 thousand people. Its participants linked human rights violations in the modern world to the fact that millions of people are still forced to live in poverty. First of all, this applies to the countries of the third and fourth world - the least developed in economically states.

Despite the colossal scientific and technological progress that accompanied the world in the twentieth century, social inequality in the modern world is only growing. Moreover, social differentiation is aggravated in all countries of the world, including developed countries. In simpler terms, the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer. Thus, according to research, by the beginning of 2016, 62 of the richest people in the world possessed the same amount of assets as 3.6 billion people - representatives of the poorest half of the world's population. Over the past six years, since 2010, the wealth of 3.6 billion of the world's poor has decreased by $ 1 trillion. At the same time, the assets of the 62 richest inhabitants of the planet doubled and amounted to 1.76 trillion. US dollars. While the multibillionaires do not know where to invest their surplus funds, billions of the world's inhabitants live in poverty, hundreds of millions - in terrible poverty, on the brink of survival.

The food problem is still very acute in the world. Hunger is not something from the distant past, but a terrible component of the present. A large amount of both scientific and journalistic literature has been written about the scale of hunger in the modern world, but the persistence of this problem makes politicians, public figures, sociologists and journalists return to it again and again. People continue to die of hunger even in our time, including small children - in Africa, some countries of Asia and Latin America.

The total number of regularly undernourished people in the modern world is estimated at almost a billion people. According to a UN report, at least 852 million people suffer from hunger. In the modern world, over 1.2 billion people, or about a fifth of the world's population, live on less than one US dollar a day. Malnutrition is to blame for 54% of child deaths in the world today. Such conclusions were made by experts of the World Health Organization. The main reason for hunger is not only the fact that in the countries of the third and fourth world people do not receive the required amount of money to eat at a normal level, but also in natural conditions that do not allow for effective exercise agriculture and to provide themselves with food due to constant droughts, the onset of sands on the savannah. Numerous military-political conflicts play an important role, contributing to the destruction of a normal economy, even an underdeveloped one.

Most of the malnourished and hungry people are in Tropical Africa... It is this region that is considered the epicenter of hunger in the modern world. Moreover, the number of hungry people in Africa has a pronounced tendency to increase, which is directly related to the increase in the birth rate. The highest birth rates in the world are in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and several other African states. It is clear that all these countries belong not even to the third, but to the fourth world, in which researchers include the least economically developed and poorest states. The food problem is very serious in Northeast Africa, primarily in Somalia. Here, constant droughts put millions of people on the brink of survival.

But not only Africa can be seen as a "hungry continent". Millions of people are regularly malnourished and hungry in the countries of South and Southeast Asia - in Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan. It also has a very high birth rate, coupled with progressive poverty and deepening social polarization. The same India, despite the fact that it is considered a regional power and a relatively economically developed country, is not able to solve the problem of the hungry. The reasons for this are the very high population, high unemployment rate, combined with the presence of hundreds of millions of people without education and any professional qualifications.

The total number of undernourished people in Latin America is somewhat lower. Here the "hunger belt" passes, first of all, through the Andean countries, primarily Bolivia and Peru, as well as through the countries of the "isthmus", first of all - Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala. In the Caribbean, Haiti is the "island of hunger". As for the countries of Europe and North America, the problem of hunger for them is relevant to the least extent, in comparison with the rest of the world. Here, chronic malnutrition is characteristic only of representatives of certain social groups who have "dropped out" from society - the homeless, street children. In the post-Soviet space, the problem of malnutrition is acute in the countries of Central Asia - in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. However, in Russia, too, many citizens of low-income strata of the population are chronically malnourished. Lonely disabled people and pensioners with low pensions are in the least advantageous position, large families low-income spouses, as well as citizens leading an asocial lifestyle - homeless, vagabonds, chronic alcoholics.

The problem of malnutrition is closely related to the problem of low incomes of the population. In the countries of the third and fourth world, most people, even having found a job, are forced to subsist on very little money, incomparable with the salaries of even unskilled workers in developed countries. In developed countries, the concept of poverty in recent decades is increasingly associated with the ability of citizens to realize access to the basic consumer basket, which includes not only food, but also, for example, medical services. In some countries Western Europe the criterion of poverty is already becoming the absence of a bank account with savings. On the other hand, in Russian Federation the poor are understood as citizens with incomes on the verge and below the subsistence level, which, by the way, is established by the state. There are ongoing debates in society about how much the established living wage corresponds to the real consumer basket that a Russian citizen needs for a full life.

Low incomes of the population remain an acute problem for modern Russia. The first decade of the XXI century in the Russian Federation saw a gradual decrease in the number of citizens of the country with incomes below the subsistence level. So, if in 2000, 42.3 million people had incomes below the subsistence level, i.e. 29% of the population is actually every third Russian, then in 2012 it was possible to reach the lowest indicator - 15.4 million people, which at that time was 10.7% of the country's population. However, then the growth in the number of low-income citizens began again. So, in 2016, 21.4 million people, which amounted to 14.6% of the population, were classified as citizens with incomes below the subsistence level. It should also be noted that the share of social payments made by the state in the incomes of Russians is growing.

The housing problem is acute in Russia. The overwhelming majority of citizens cannot afford to purchase housing, including mortgages. So, in 2012, even before currency inflation, 81% of the Russian population did not have sufficient funds to purchase housing on a mortgage. The housing problem is closely related to a number of negative phenomena for the country. For example, it directly affects the birth rate in the country, since young families who do not have their own homes or are cramped in housing conditions often for this reason refuse to give birth to a child for a while or completely. A significant part of the country's population, unable to purchase modern housing that meets the necessary requirements, is forced to live in dilapidated and dilapidated housing, exposing their lives and health to danger. Even in some large cities there are streets and areas devoid of basic amenities, for example - gas and central sewerage, what can we say about rural areas and small settlements. The service life of the so-called. "Khrushchevs", built for the operational resettlement of people from the barracks. But so far it has not been possible to renew the housing stock in the required volume, especially since the majority of citizens cannot afford to purchase new housing under construction.

The solution to the housing problem lies in the spectrum of redefining the role the Russian state in the construction and distribution of housing. In the 1990s, the state actually withdrew itself from housing construction, which led to the total commercialization of the housing market. The scale of construction and distribution of social housing cannot be called anything significant. In Russia, the system of non-commercial rental of residential premises is completely undeveloped, which could partially solve the housing problems not only of the poor, but also of prosperous citizens. The state could help solve the housing problem by regulating prices for economy-class housing, discouraging speculative activities in this area. Finally, the state should also use resources to create a state (municipal) rental housing market, the prices of which would allow low-income groups of the population to rent residential premises for a long time.

The high level of poverty in Russia is associated with colossal social polarization, which began to grow in the 1990s and is now reaching such proportions that Russia is ranked among the world leaders in terms of social inequality of the population. Over the twenty-odd years of the existence of the post-Soviet Russian statehood, social inequality in Russia has quadrupled. According to the report of the Russian Academy of Sciences, published in 2013 under the editorship of academicians S.Yu. Glazieva, V.V. Ivanter and A.D. Nekipelov, the level of social stratification between the richest and the poorest Russians reached 16: 1, while the critical value of stratification is 10: 1 and even 8: 1. However, solving the problem of poverty and social inequality is impossible without appropriate regulatory measures on the part of the state.

Academicians S.Yu. Glazyev, A.D. Nekipelov and V.V. Ivanter in his report proposes as one of the most important measures against social stratification, the introduction of a progressive scale of taxation. Progressive taxation exists in many developed countries of the world and provides impressive revenues to the state budget, due to which, among other things, the social sphere is financed. In their report, scientists note that it is possible to reduce the number of the poor in Russia and reduce social inequality if the subsistence minimum is raised to the level of the real cost of the basic consumer basket, which makes it possible to fulfill human needs in food, clothing, medical care, etc.

Secondly, an increase in the minimum wage is proposed. A situation unique for developed countries has developed in Russia when working citizens, including specialists with higher education... It turns out that one who honestly works and fulfills his professional duties, which often require higher education and highly qualified, a citizen is unable to provide even the realization of his basic needs at the expense of his wages. Many workers in the fields of education, culture, health care, housing and communal services are still among the working poor in Russia. It is a paradoxical situation when a worker of culture, education or health care with a higher education and impressive work experience in his specialty receives a salary that is below the subsistence level for working Russians.

Is the problem of poverty, poverty and inequality eradicated in the modern world and in Russia in particular? As for the modern world as a whole, even hopes for the elimination of poverty and poverty in the countries of the third and fourth world can be immediately dismissed. Economic underdevelopment, natural conditions, high birth rate, political instability - all these factors minimize hopes for solving the problem of social inequality in African countries, many countries of Asia and Latin America.

In the same time, modern Russia possesses the necessary political, economic and cultural potential in order to actively tackle the problems of poverty and inequality. However, this requires an appropriate policy of the Russian state in the economy and in social sphere... There is a lot in the economic and social policy countries should be revised. In the meantime, the economic problems experienced by the country do not allow not only to increase the volume of social assistance, but also keep them at the same level. In particular, in 2016 and 2017. maternity capital, which previously increased by 5.5% each year, will no longer be indexed. But, at the same time, the state does not yet risk changing fiscal policy by introducing progressive taxation, diligently avoids raising the topic of revising the results of privatization, refuses to introduce taxes on luxury, that is, it does not want to infringe on the interests of richest Russians to the detriment of the interests of the multimillion masses of the population living on the brink and below the poverty line.

In the course of the development of civilization, humanity has encountered certain difficulties. But scientists began to talk about global problems in the 70-80s of the last century, when more resources were required to support the population. And the waste began to increase significantly. What kind global problems worried about today?

10 Natural disasters

9 Backwardness of some countries

8 Peaceful space exploration

7 Using the resources of the oceans

6 Food

5 Energy

4 Demographic

3 Raw

2 Environmental

1 World

Geopolitical rivalry, economic inequality, climate change and the rollback of democracy - these problems, despite their heterogeneity, will be the main ones for humanity next year, more than 1.5 thousand experts of the World Economic Forum came to this conclusion. The results of their analysis are presented in the annual report "Outlook on the Global Agenda" for 2015.

The first such study was conducted by the WEF in 2008. In 2015, the impact of the economic consequences of the global financial crisis, which for several years remained key for many countries, will somewhat decrease, says the founder of the Davos Forum, Klaus Schwab. Stability is now threatened by political challenges - growth terrorist threat and exacerbation of geopolitical conflicts, and this, in turn, prevents countries from jointly solving pressing problems.

Growing inequality

The problem of income inequality in 2015 will come out on top (a year ago, the WEF put it on the second position). On this moment the poorer half of the population owns no more than 10% of total wealth, and this problem extends to both developed and developing countries, the authors of the report note. According to a survey conducted by the WEF, the situation is most likely to worsen over the next year in Asia, as well as in North and Latin America.

For effective fight with economic inequality, countries should approach the solution of this problem in a comprehensive manner - to increase the availability of education, health care and other resources. Most people assume that the main responsibility lies with the government, but corporations can share that responsibility as business itself benefits from rising incomes for the poor. This is how the number of consumers and the market for goods and services are growing.

Continuous rise in unemployment

Economic growth without employment growth (jobless growth) is a phenomenon in which the employment rate does not change (and even decreases) in combination with GDP growth. The authors say that the main reason for this problem is the too rapid transformation of the labor market due to the development of technology.

The problem is familiar even to China: the country has experienced unprecedented growth in production and exports and increased the competitiveness of its products, but the number of employed in the industry has significantly decreased over the past 20 years due to high rates of industrialization and automation. This is a long-term trend that will be seen globally, the WEF points out.

Lack of leaders

According to the WEF survey, 86% of respondents believe that the modern world lacks leaders, 58% do not trust political leaders, and almost the same number (56%) are suspicious of religious leaders.

Corruption, banal dishonesty of the authorities and inability to cope with contemporary issues Are the main reasons for this mistrust, according to Pew Research Center polls conducted in China, Brazil and India. On the other hand, society is increasingly inclined to trust figures from non-governmental organizations and, oddly enough, business leaders who have achieved success through their skills, education and drive for innovation.

In the modern world, leaders can grow out of "ordinary people," says one of the co-founders of the Malala Yusufzai Shiza Shahid Foundation, referring to her friend Malala, who was awarded Nobel Prize peace for educational and human rights activities. "We must foster a society in which honesty and empathy are key, where talents have the opportunity to develop., - explains Shahid. - This will allow ordinary people to gain strength. "

Growing geopolitical competition

After graduation cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world temporarily came to a liberal consensus, but today geopolitics is again coming to the fore, the WEF notes. The growing geopolitical competition is not limited to events in Ukraine; similar processes are unfolding in Asia and the Middle East.

As a result of the Ukrainian crisis, the West may economically and politically distance itself from Russia, which until recently was considered the guarantor of regional stability and peace, the authors of the report point out. And the situation in the Asian region - the growing influence of China and its territorial claims - could potentially have more serious global implications, writes VEF. About a third of the Pew Research Center survey participants believe that in the foreseeable future, China will seize the palm of the leading world power from the United States.

In addition to the threat of geopolitical conflicts, the weakening of established ties between states will prevent them from jointly solving global problems, such as climate change or infectious epidemics. The rise of nationalist sentiments and the destruction of the system of multilateral relations between countries should be one of the most important lessons of 2014, experts at the WEF believe.

Weakening of representative democracy

Belief in democratic institutions has been declining since 2008: the economic crisis has eroded confidence in both businesses and governments that failed to prevent it. This provoked popular unrest, for example, in Greece and Spain, and political protests in recent years have become firmly established on the global agenda. The Arab Spring has affected almost all countries North Africa and the Middle East, discontent political regimes exacerbated the situation in Ukraine and Hong Kong, in Brazil, protests over excessive government spending accompanied preparations for the World Cup this year and Olympic Games which will be held in 2016.

Despite the fact that development information technologies allows to significantly improve democratic procedures, all over the world there is discord between citizens and their elected officials. Governments are still 19th century institutions with a 20th century mindset that cannot keep up with needs civil society... To change the current situation, officials must use modern means of communication to include broader segments of the population in the decision-making process, WEF experts say.

Frequent natural disasters

Extreme weather are a direct consequence of climate change, say WEF experts, and in recent times they appear more and more often and more intensely and are more and more destructive. Floods in the UK, Brazil and Indonesia, droughts in the United States and Australia, heavy rains in Pakistan and snowstorms in Japan are changing public perceptions of climate change.

Ironically, people in the poorest countries experience the most damage, and the global community tends to try to help them recover from past disasters, rather than investing in preventing damage from future disasters. These are significant costs, the effect of which will only be visible in the long term. However, they will benefit both the economies of countries and businesses, and, undoubtedly, the poorest and most vulnerable nations, the authors of the report explain.

Aggravation of nationalism

Since the industrial revolution, people have turned to political nationalism to defend traditional values ​​and identities. Catalonia in Spain, Belgium, Lombardy, Scotland in the UK - everywhere people demand protection from economic shocks and social conflicts and globalization that threaten to violate established traditions, values ​​and lifestyles.

Nevertheless, the Scots voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. Perhaps this rejection of separatism will demonstrate that in the new global world, nations can combine strong and vivid personality traits with the desire for closer cooperation with the rest of the world, the WEF experts hope, because we are talking not only about the coexistence of nations within one state, but also functioning as part of an integrated global economy.

Worsening access to drinking water

Difficulty accessing drinking water in different countries can be the result of both financial and resource factors, says one of the WEF experts, actor Matt Damon, who is one of the founders of the Water.org charity. In India, millions of people are separated from the pure drinking water only a few dollars, the actor explains, while in Africa and Asia it simply does not exist. For more than 750 million people in the world, the lack of drinking water is an urgent problem today, Damon complains, and, according to OECD experts, by 2030, almost 1.5 billion people will experience "water stress".

Meanwhile, according to a World Bank report, about 50% of the current gap between economic growth rates in developing and developed countries is formed precisely from health problems and low life expectancy. States should spend more on maintaining the health of their citizens, and subsequently this will certainly affect the economic well-being of the country, the WEF experts point out. As an example, they cite the constantly growing health care costs in China, including biomedical research, which are increasing by 20-25% annually. Soon enough, China will spend more on this direction than the United States (in absolute terms). The Chinese believe that these investments are contributing to the construction of the country's economy, and the WEF agrees with this.

Environmental pollution in developing countries

The industrialization of the developing world remains a source of uncontrolled environmental pollution, WEF experts say. If on a global scale this problem is in sixth place in importance, then for Asia this challenge is one of the three most serious. China became the main source of greenhouse gas in 2005 and continues to be, followed by the United States and the European Union, according to data from the World Resources Institute. Brazil and India come next in the list of the largest pollutants.

While the main responsibility for reducing emissions lies with the developing countries themselves, the developed economies must also have a responsibility to overcome this problem. On the one hand, they must invest in the creation of new technologies with a low level of hydrocarbon use, on the other, they must provide developing countries with financing that will ensure the transition to greener energy sources.