WORLD BANK FINDS U.S. JUST SO-SO

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993                   TAG: 9301050100
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
WORLD BANK FINDS U.S. JUST SO-SO
According to the World Bank, the average Swiss had the world's highest income in 1991 - $33,510 - compared with a low of $70 in Mozambique.
Japanese babies could expect to live longest, 79 years, while the newborn in Guinea-Bissau could look forward to just 39 years.
The United States was in 10th place for income - $22,560 - behind Switzerland, Luxembourg, Japan, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, West Germany and Iceland.
American babies had a life expectancy of 76 years, but Japan and 10 other countries reported better rates.
The United States was nearer the top in food consumption. Americans took in an average of 3,671 calories a day in 1989 - right after Greece, with 3,825 calories, and Ireland, with 3,778. Ethiopia was last with 1,667 calories.
The bank's 25th annual atlas, published this week, said the poorest countries are in Africa, where the average yearly income is $100 in Tanzania and $120 in Ethiopia. Some African countries have life expectancies in the 40s.
Nearly half the world's poor live in South Asia, a large proportion of them in India, where the average income dropped to $330 from $360 in 1990.
Dealing with the environment for the first time, compilers of the atlas asked how much goods counties produce for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of oil, or its equivalent, consumed. The less oil and coal a country burns, the less it pollutes.
In 1990 Denmark produced $7 worth of goods for every kilogram of fuel, Italy $6.90 and Japan $6.70. The United States produced only $2.80 worth of goods for each kilogram of fuel.
Haiti lost 40 percent of its forests in the 1980s. Following were Paraguay, 39 percent; El Salvador, 36 percent; and Brunei, 35 percent.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB