Many of us aren’t aware of ways the world is getting better because the press — and humans in general — have a strong negativity bias. Vox published 23 charts and maps that show that the world is getting much better. Here're the 23 positive trends:
1. Extreme poverty has fallen
2. Hunger is falling
3. Child labour is on the decline
4. People in developed countries have more leisure time
5. The share of income spent on food has plummeted in the US
6. Life expectancy is rising
7. Child mortality is down
8. Death in childbirth is rarer
9. People have been getting taller for centuries
10. More people have access to malaria bednets
11. Guinea worm is almost eradicated
12. Teen births in the US are down
13. Smoking is down, too
14. In the long term, homicide rates have fallen dramatically
15. In the short term, homicide rates are down in the US, too
16. Violent crime in the US is going down
17. We’ve rapidly reduced the supply of nuclear weapons
18. More people in the world live in a democracy now
19. More people are going to school for longer
20. And literacy is, predictably, up as well
21. Moore’s law isn’t quite over yet
22. Access to the internet is increasing
23. Solar energy is getting cheaper
Source: Vox, 17 October 2018. Read the full article and check out the 23 maps and charts.
