Seven facts from Hans Rosling’s book ‘Factfulness’.
1) Fewer people live in poverty now than any other time in history.
· Over the past 20 years the proportion of people in the world living in extreme poverty has been cut in half.
· The majority of the world’s population live in the middle of the income scale.
2) Life expectancy is the highest it’s ever been:
· Most people have improved their lives dramatically.
· Life expectancy is up to 72 yrs old globally and 77 in the Americas.
3) Worldwide child mortality rates have dropped significantly.
· In 2015 only 4.5% of children globally died before age 5. In 1950, that number was 22%.
4) Overpopulation is not going to be a problem anytime soon.
· Fertility rates are down from 5.5 children per woman in 1950 to 2.49 today.
5) Global economies have been growing, driving up income levels.
· GDP in developed nations has been growing by roughly 2% a year for the past 150 years – income levels double every 36 years.
· And countries such as China and India are growing even faster.
6) Worldwide, fewer people live under authoritarian governments.
· 55.8% of the world lives in a democracy – compared to 31.4% in 1950. Just 22.23% of the world lives in an autocracy, the vast majority in China.
7) This is a time of relative peace, with fewer international conflicts.
· Less than 1% of the world is dying from war/terrorism.
So, despite Trump, despite Brexit, despite the constant moaning/whinging – things are getting better.
Keep Going!
KR
