Davos by Numbers or "Who's on magic mountain"

The Economist reported that of 2,500 plus "hobnobber" invitees to the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos only 15% were women (24 January 2014). See the stats for yourself:

The Economist goes on to say that "Two-thirds of the delegates hail from Western countries that are home to just 12% of the world's population". Hardly representative, then. Nor are people younger than 30 well represented, especially when you consider that 42 or 43 of the world's population is under 30 years of age.


Universities are also clustered, rather than represented, as quite a chunk are American institutions and that Harvard is the top attender. The Economist also notes that "60% ​​[of attendees] are businessfolk and 14% come from government. The 46 presidents and prime ministers represent 1.8 billion of the world's 7.1 billion people." 

Surprisingly, a lot are journalists: about 9%: "One in eleven is a hack - four from The Economist."

Davos is a smorgasbord of money, too. "The total worth of the 15 richest is around $ 285 billion. The stockmarket value of firms represented is $ 12 trillion, about one-fifth of the world's total. And after all the inflated expenses and egos, what has been the fate of the companies that sent delegates at least three times in the past five years? Those 104 firms underperformed both the S & P 500 and MSCI World Index." (The Economist, 24 January 2014).

• Reference: The Economist (24 January 2014).  The data of Davos: Who's on the Magic Mountain? UK. Author. Retrieved 25 January 2014 from http://www.economist.com/news/international/21595032-whos-magic-mountain

Sam