In May, I attend a seminar in which the Keynote Speaker was Alexander Downer.Ā Mr. Downer’s most recent position in Australia was of Foreign Affairs Minister from 2014 to 2018.Ā Ā He is currently Executive Chair of the International School of Government at Kingās College in London.
During his speech, Mr Downer addressed some interesting facts which assist with investment analysis.Ā I hope you find the take outs highlighted below of interest!
- Poverty has halved in the past 20 years.
- 90% of children worldwide are vaccinated.
- Life expectancy has increased from 50 to 70 years old (the average life expectancy in Australia is 80.4 years for male and 84.6 for female)
- There are 1.3 billion people in Africa – just has large as India and China.
- Globalisation has created Nationalism, and in Mr Downers opinion, Populism is really Nationalism;
- In the last 500 years, there has been 16 cases where a ārising power has challenged a āstatus quoā power ā 12 of these 16 cases lead to war
- The worst of this was World War I
- Only NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) countries are threatened by China
- NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance formed between 29 North American and European countries in 1949 to guarantee the freedom and security of its members
- There are constant cyber attacks – the greater global population is unaware of.
- Australia is an extremely prosperous country, and he believes that āinactivity and indulgence borne out of complacencyā as a result of the mining boom, may lead to issues for Australia in years to come.
- Australia only emits 1.3% of Global Emissions.
Source:Ā Alexander Downer