Reporter Robert Neuwirth began his presentation Wednesday with one number that echoes throughout the globe: $2,138.

He said this number represents about 10 percent of the cost to attend Eastern and about one-fourteen thousandth of what Angelina Jolie earned last year. However, this number also reveals the level of economic destitution in the world.

“$2,138 symbolizes global economic inequality as it is the median wealth of the world,” Neuwirth said.

Neuwirth spent two years traveling to four continents to live in shantytowns in “squatter” cities like: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Nairobi, Kenya; Mumbai, India; and Istanbul, Turkey.

“The world is made of about 1 billion squatters, which is 1-in-6 people across the globe,” Neuwirth said. “By 2050, this will increase to one in three people.”

About 1 million people live in Kibera, Kenya, and about 600,000 of those people are squatters, he said.

Neuwirth said he discovered that squatters in heavily populated areas began to find ways to build their own communities.

“With the amount of squatters, 70 million homes would need to be built to accommodate them, which is 130 needing to be built every minute in cities,” Neuwirth said. “They cannot rely on developers or government to build at that pace or price so they found their own way.”

He also displayed some photos from his travels, including one that showed a wooden telephone pole hugged by several straps holding at least 100 electricity wires.

“You could say ‘My God, they are stealing electricity; they’re thieves,’ but to me this is a poetic image because no one should be without electricity in the 21st century,” he said. “Stealing electricity allows them to get water. There are no water pipes going to the community, so they use pumps and transport water through tubes leading to their roofs.”

Of all of the working people, 80 percent are classified as System D, which refers to those who conduct business on their own without regulation from the government, he said.

Jim Bruehler, an associate economics professor, said he thinks he has more of an appreciation for the extent of the underground economy.

“Usually we see facts and figures, and that is nothing new, but the photographs and knowledge from someone who has been there makes it more tangible,” Bruehler said.

Neuwirth’s freelance articles have been featured in publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes and Fortune.

He has written books on the global economic crisis, including “Stealth of Nations: the Global Rise of the Informal Economy” and “Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban World.”

His presentation titled “The Occupy Movement and the Global Economic Crisis” is the third installment of the Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity speaker series cosponsored by the Department of Economics and the African Studies Program.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].