The 1998 Report investigates the 20th century's growth in consumption, unprecedented in its scale and diversity. The benefits of this consumption have spread far and wide. More people are better fed and housed than ever before. Living standards have risen to enable hundreds of millions to enjoy housing with hot water and cold, warmth and electricity, transport to and from work-with time for leisure and sports, vacations and other activities beyond anything imagined at the start of this century. Yet the Report states that the benefits of this consumption have been badly distributed, leaving a backlog of shortfalls and gaping inequalities.
Furthermore, ever-expanding consumption puts strains on the environment - emissions and wastes that pollute the earth and destroy ecosystems, and growing depletion and degradation of renewable resources that undermines livelihoods. The world's dominant consumers are overwhelmingly concentrated among the well-off - but the environmental damage from the world's consumption falls most severely on the poor.