Seven reasons the world is improving
Julius Probst at BBC gives seven reasons the world is improving:
- Life expectancy continues to rise: up from 29 to 71
- Child mortality continues to fall: down from 22% to 4.5%
- Fertility rates are falling: from around 5 per woman to 2 meaning global population will stabilise
- GDP growth has accelerated in developed countries: real incomes double every 36 years
- Global income inequality has gone down: hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty and for first time in 200+ years over half the world are now “middle class”
- More people are living in democracies: gone from 0.9% to 53%
- Conflicts are on the decline: there has been no war between great powers since Vietnam