By 2050 it's estimated that over 50% of the world's population will live in "chabolas" - i.e. in semi-urban shanty towns with no formal infrastructure, yet still very close to major city centers. So distribution is increasingly less of a problem than you would assume, simply because population centers are concentrating at a very quick rate.
It's an antique method of thinking about these things, but one way to conceptualize "third-world" countries is that they lack a middle class. However, these aren't entirely "urban poor" people either. The movement to these poor slums also has a large degree of private innovation and some leap-frogging that brings millions of these new urban dwellers into a "pseudo-middle-class". They have cell phones, they organize informal water and electricity for their dwellings, improve them, and basically begin to see an slowly improving standard of living.
So, there really is a billion people who aren't well off, but not too-badly off to not afford a $2 pair of eyeglasses. They're working, and moving up socially, and this new class of people need affordable products. There's an enormous, growing market for this stuff.
By 2050 it's estimated that over 50% of the world's population will live in "chabolas" - i.e. in semi-urban shanty towns with no formal infrastructure, yet still very close to major city centers. So distribution is increasingly less of a problem than you would assume, simply because population centers are concentrating at a very quick rate.
Yes, I was only stating facts, and I really want to point out that if we want to understand what the world will be like in the near future, we have to understand what rapid urbanization and "mega cities" will entail - massive urban populations living in slums (chabolas or favelas, there are several terms).
Usually in these areas I just cite United Nations estimates - here are the facts from the UN:
For people who want to know the other "downside" of this massive urbanization, then here's a GREAT link to an article. This website also a ton of forward-thinking articles about economic trends with larger implications:
Not dubious. Just replace "chabolas" with "cities". The move to cities worldwide is well documented and not showing any signs of slowing down. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization and lots more in Google.
It's an antique method of thinking about these things, but one way to conceptualize "third-world" countries is that they lack a middle class. However, these aren't entirely "urban poor" people either. The movement to these poor slums also has a large degree of private innovation and some leap-frogging that brings millions of these new urban dwellers into a "pseudo-middle-class". They have cell phones, they organize informal water and electricity for their dwellings, improve them, and basically begin to see an slowly improving standard of living.
So, there really is a billion people who aren't well off, but not too-badly off to not afford a $2 pair of eyeglasses. They're working, and moving up socially, and this new class of people need affordable products. There's an enormous, growing market for this stuff.
Anyhow, just my two cents.