The World Is a Better Place to Live

Professor Hans Rosling of Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet has a much sunnier take on life than most…and for good reasons. In an article he wrote for the BBC News Magazine called “How Much Do You Know About the World,” he says life on planet earth is now much better than it used to be and backs it up with five key facts.

First, professor Rosling says that rapid population growth is coming to an end. In the 1960s, the world’s average fertility rate (the number of babies born per woman) was five. That number has been halved to 2.5, which according to the professor, is unprecedented in human history. The trend is still downward and will stay that way at least through the end of this century.

He also points out that the world is no longer divided between developed and developing countries, as it once was. Fifty years ago, you were either a have or have not nation. Today, there is a large and growing middle, occupied by countries like Brazil, Mexico, China, Turkey, Thailand and others. Half the world’s economy, he says, now is outside Western Europe and North America.

People also are getting healthier. Over the last 60 years, the world’s average life expectancy has increased dramatically from 60 years to 70. Driving this change is a very large drop in child mortality. In 1960, one in five children died before the age of five. Today, he says, it is one in 20 and still falling.

The number four reason why life is getting better for all of us is the increase in education for women. Girls now attend an average seven years of school globally, just one year behind boys. Of the 60 million girls who don’t go to school, most live in extreme poverty. About 10 percent don’t go because of cultural taboos.

Finally, extreme poverty is finally being eradicated. The World Bank data shows extreme poverty has fallen from 2 billion in 1980 to just over 1 billion today. Professor Rosling notes these families still live on a very low income, but they get enough food and go to school. The evidence suggests, he says, for the last billion to also get out of extreme poverty in the next few decades.

If you’re feeling a little low today, this article should help make you feel a bit better.

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