Some better (slow) trends

[shootingstar]

In midst of all bad news which is what the media tends to pump out a lot, there are some slower but good trends we don't hear enough about:

https://qz.com/1169003/the-99-best-things-that-happened-in-2017/

 

Rising living standards for billions of people

31. The International Energy Agency announced that nearly 1.2 billion people around the world have gained access to electricity in the last 16 years.

32. In February, the World Bank published new figures showing that 20 years ago, the average malnourished person on planet Earth consumed 155 fewer calories per day than they needed. Today, that number is down to 88.

33. Since 2000, life expectancy in Rwanda is up from 49 to 64, child mortality is down more than two-thirds, maternal mortality is down nearly 80%, and HIV/AIDS prevalence is down from 13% to 3%. Mail & Guardian

34. In the last three years, the number of people in China living below the poverty line decreased from 99 million to 43.4 million. And since 2010, income inequality has been falling steadily. Quartz

35. 275 million Indians gained access to proper sanitation between 2014 and 2017. Gates Notes

36. In 1991 more than 40% of Bangladesh lived in extreme poverty. The World Bank said this year that the number has now dropped to 14% (equating to 50 million fewer people). Quartz

37. The United States’ official poverty rate reached 12.7%, the lowest level since the end of the global financial crisis. And the child-poverty rate reached an all time low, dropping to 15.6%. The Atlantic

38. Between 2005 and 2017, Afghanistan built 16,000 schools, the nation-wide literacy rate increased by 5%, and the youth literacy rate increased by more than 16%. USAID

39. In October, a new report by the International Labour Organisation revealed that global child labour has plummeted. In 2016, there were 98 million fewer boys and girls being exploited than in 2000. CS Monitor

[shootingstar]

Hans Rosling, a Swedish physician and epidemiologist, who died recently, gives a very dynamic presentation which he makes statistics actually exciting and sometimes funny.  He demonstrates the developed world, North America and Europe, must let go of their myths that the rest of world is overpopulating, full of illiteracy, etc.  Asia, Africa are becoming more literate very fast, size of families world-wide is really shrinking to 2 children, standard of living is very slowly improving especially when women get education, they work, etc.