| Abstract: |
An empirical overview of the UNESCO World Heritage List according to various
characteristics is presented. The officially stated intention of the World
Heritage List is to protect global heritage. Our focus is on the imbalance of
the existing List according to countries and continents. The existing
distribution is compared to hypothetical distributions considered “balanced”
from different points of view. It turns out that the World Heritage List is
unbalanced with respect to a distribution of Sites according to population,
area or per capita income. This paper wants to reveal facts about the existing
distribution, and is designed to help a reasoned discussion to emerge. |