Globalisation

Did you know that …

• … The Ikea catalogue is one of the printed documents that have the highest yearly circulation copies and varieties of languages? In 2013 the IKEA catalogue had a yearly circulation of 211 million copies and was available in 62 languages.
• … in 2013 the fast food chain McDonald’s had 32,000 branches in 118 countries?
• … the distance, which people can travel in the same length of time changed over the last 150 years has risen from an average of around 10km in 1850 to 10,000km now?
• … the global exports of goods increased by more than 1,300 percent from 1960 to 2010?
• … in 1800, depending on wind conditions, it took approximately 40 days to send a letter from Europe to America?
• … with 193 member states the UN is the biggest international organisation?
• … the internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia is available in 286 languages?
• … the most films are produced in India? In 2005 over 1000 films were produced in India, around 700 were made in the USA.
• … the 500 largest corporations employ 0,05 percent of the world population, but control 70 percent of the world trade, 80 percent of foreign investments and 25 percent of the world production?
• … it took around 4 years for the number of internet users to reach the 50 million mark? By comparison: the radio took around 40 years to reach the same number of listeners in the USA.