Through reducing the world’s population to 100, Miniature Earth manages to present, quite simply, a stark reality of the conditions in which many people live today. It is an effective method to help people put certain issues into perspective and context, leading people to question their understanding of power and dominance, religion, language and the problemtic relationship between the world’s rich and poor. Miniature Earth is a useful starting point for people to contemplate how they affect and/or can affect the world’s state of affairs.

The original ‘State of the Village Report’ by Donella Meadows that predates Miniature Earth was published on 29 May 1990. Meadows passed away in February 2000, but her ideas and projects are carried on by Sustainability Institute, through Donella’s Foundation.

Donella Meadows' original "State of the Village Report" may be found here .

The statistics used in Miniature Earth’s presentation have text used here have been updated using, but not exclusively, specialized publications and reports on the world’s population provided by the United Nations and the Population Reference Bureau.