Innsbruck, July 18, 1987
The Same and Yet Different
It is not only tiresome but also fruitless to continuously draw comparisons between America and Europe on what is better or worse on either side. Due to an active international trade, consumer goods on both sides of the Atlantic are much the same so that there is not much of a difference any more. Yet despite the adjustment of consumer goods, one should not overlook the differences in mentality and attitude that do exist between America and Europe. It seems as if these differences are increasing with the growing conformity of the consumer market.
Innsbruck, July 23, 1987
The Five Billion Mark Reached
Demographic observers at the United Nations recorded that the world population has reached the five billion mark. The five billionth new addition to the human race was supposedly born in Yugoslavia. To mark the occasion, United Nations General Secretary Peres de Cuellar congratulated the happy parents. The population centers are very unequally distributed: Half of the world population, i.e. 2.5 billion, lives in China, India, and in South East Asia.
Addendum
[On October 12, 1999, the demographic clock at the United Nations showed that the world population had crossed the six billion mark. While half of the world population lives in Asia, a strong increase is being expected for Latin America and Africa in the decades ahead.]