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Is the world getting better or worse?
Unchallenged
According to the Economist, the earnings gap between white men and black men is getting wider.
Although the earnings gap between the typical white and black man began narrowing from 1940, the trend stopped in the mid-1970s and has since widened. As of 2018, the difference in earnings was as large as it was in the 1950s.
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Unchallenged
Global literacy rates (the ability to read and write) were at their highest, as of 2016.
If you were alive in 1800, there was a chance of 9 in 10 that you weren’t able to read—today more than 8 out of 10 people are able to read. In 1820 only every 10th person older than 15 years was literate; in 1930 it was every third and now we are at 86% globally.
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Unchallenged
Global child mortality rates have been dramatically reduced over the last few centuries.
In 2015 child mortality was down to 4.3%—10-fold lower than 2 centuries ago. In pre-modern times around half of all children died—in 1800 the health conditions were such that around 43% of the world’s newborns died before their 5th birthday.
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Unchallenged
By all measures, the number of people living in poverty worldwide has reduced dramatically.
As of 2015, the share of the world population in extreme poverty had fallen below 10%—particularly remarkable considering the world population has increased 7-fold over the last two decades. In 1950, two-thirds of the world were still living in extreme poverty.
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Most Validated
The percentage of people worldwide living in politically oppressive regimes is the lowest it's ever been.
Throughout the 19th century, more than a third of the population lived in colonial regimes and almost everyone else lived in autocratically ruled countries (where one person has unlimited power). As of 2015, more than every second person in the world (50%+) lives in a democracy.
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Less Validated
Since 2005, the number of oppressive regimes and people living under oppression has been increasing.
In 2018, Freedom in the World recorded the 13th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. The international human rights group warned that between 2005 and 2018, the share of "Not Free" countries rose to 26%, while the share of "Free" countries declined to 44%.
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Unchallenged
People in the world today are more educated than their ancestors, and this bodes well for education levels in the future.
A projection by researchers at Oxford University shows that by 2100, there will be almost no one without formal education and there will be more than 7 billion minds who will have received at least secondary education.
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Unchallenged
As of 2015, global rates of depression and anxiety were at crisis levels.
As of 2015, depression was deemed the leading cause of disability worldwide. It was estimated that over a quarter of citizens of working age had suffered from depression. And diagnoses for the illness have continued to increase.
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Unchallenged
Air pollution in places like New Delhi and Beijing represent one of the largest public health crises of the 21st century.
In places like this, people still rely on burning wood, cow dung, sugar cane and other solid fuels. During one extreme pollution event in New Delhi in late 2016, the levels were more than 25 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) standard.
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Unchallenged
Overall air quality in the US is improving nationally.
There's been an improvement in carbon monoxide emissions. Particulate matter has been reduced in most locations by significant amounts, oftentimes by about 50 percent over the past 30 years.