To see the price of the products below, please choose your monthly income:
A cup of Water
Water - The poorest must spend on average around 20% of their daily income on clean drinking water to stay alive. Even then, long distances must often be travelled to access this water. In the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa, 40 billion hours per year are spent hauling water.
A day of Secondary schooling
Schooling - Most African countries have improved access to state Primary Schools for all children, but Secondary Education is still a luxury, which is highly limited, especially for those living in rural areas. Because of this, few young people are able to study to a higher level
as parents cannot afford to fund them.
as parents cannot afford to fund them.
A Meal
Food - The average family will spend around 40-60% of their daily income on food. In some cases, it can even be up to 90%, especially if parents have many children to feed. This leaves little disposable income for anything else.
Bus ticket to work
Bus transport - Public transportation is a necessity for those living and working in urban areas. Last year, an average of 25% of income was spent on transportation. The poorest may have to spend even more, as they lack the capital to live near to their place of work, and these people will spend an average of 3 hours traveling to and from work everyday.
Antibiotics
Antibiotics - The cheapest antibiotics cost around $3 for a 14 day course of treatment. This is 3 times the daily wage, so is unaffordable for most people. As there is no real public healthcare system, with the government spending just 21cents per person on healthcare per year, people must fund themselves, and large proportions of household income are spent on medicine.
English Textbook
Textbook - Many students are unable to afford the high cost of text books and other supplies to aid them in their education. If they cannot access these items their education will suffer. However, some charities such as READ International are attempting to get used textbooks to those in need. http://www.readinternational.org.uk/
Blue Flame Batman T-shirt
T-Shirt - New clothing is unheard of for most. The majority of clothing is donated from wealthier countries, but often these still need to be paid for. The average person will spend 10% of their income on clothing, and it is considered the second most important non-food item after rent and before transport.
iPhone 4S
iPhone - Electronics are affordable only by those in developed countries, and in many communities electricity is not even available. Often used electrical goods from developed countries are shipped to Africa, but these are normally useless and end up as e-waste, which is dangerous and not good for the environment.
Tata Nano
Car - Personal vehicles are a luxury for people. Only 3 in every 1000 people own a car, and these are normally very old, and therefore dangerous. Buying a new vehicle is restricted to the very rich. By contrast, in the US, every household owns an average of 2 cars. Shown here is the cheapest car produced in India.