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