Is the world getting worse and worse, spiraling its way out of control to … well terrible catastrophies ?
See what Max Rosner has to say in the video below:
Visit the site gatesnotes to see the original blog.
The three things to remember are:
- Fact #1: Since 1960, child deaths have plummeted from 20 million a year to 6 million a year.
The number of child deaths is falling; there were 3.5-times as many child deaths 50 years ago.
But child deaths are still extremely common; 11 children are dying every minute. - Fact #2: Since 1960, the fertility rate has fallen by half.
Rapid population growth is coming to an end in this century. In the last 50 years the global fertility rate has fallen from 5 children per woman to less than 2.5 children per woman. In fifty years the fertility rate has halved.
But some places show a birth rate which remains high, eg subsaharien africa – see Max Rosen’s article on Fertility Rate. - Fact #3: 137,000 people escaped extreme poverty every day between 1990 and 2015.
The number of people in extreme poverty is falling. It is possible to end extreme poverty.
But today every 10th person is living in extreme poverty—706 million people. An unacceptably large number of people.
But we should also know that the trend is moving in the right direction.
So, the world is looking better than it was in the past: the lives of many, many people has improved, some have improved greatly. However much remains to be done, even on the above three aspects.
And there are other challenges dersperately awaiting our attention and solutions – the earth’s warming, health, pollution, inequality, conflicts, lack of education and immigration … to mention a few.