Anxiety seems more common than ever, and bad news does seem to attract readers. But not all the news is bad. This week, we start with three inspiring stories from a few years ago.
There are more people in the world than ever. At the same time, the average level of both health and prosperity have increased:
"Despite what we hear on the news and from many authorities, the great story of our era is that we are witnessing the greatest improvement in global living standards ever to take place. Poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, child labor and infant mortality are falling faster than at any other time in human history. . . A child born today is more likely to reach retirement age than his forbears were to live to their fifth birthday."
"Despite what we hear on the news and from many authorities, the great story of our era is that we are witnessing the greatest improvement in global living standards ever to take place. Poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, child labor and infant mortality are falling faster than at any other time in human history. . . A child born today is more likely to reach retirement age than his forbears were to live to their fifth birthday."
The chart below shows how much child mortality, hunger, illiteracy, pollution and poverty declined globally - just from the 1990 level to that of 2015.
from Human Progress
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