https://arab.news/5rd6s
New geopolitical and planetary crises seem to dominate news headlines, deepening a sense of pessimism about the state of humanity. But looking back over the past century, a very different picture — one of unprecedented human progress — emerges.
A hundred years ago, life was fragile and insecure. The average person could expect to live between 30 and 40 years, with one in three children dying before the age of five. Some 60 percent of the global population lived in extreme poverty, while only about a third could read or write.
Now, the global average life expectancy is 73, less than 10 percent of the global population lives in extreme poverty and nearly 90 percent are literate. Living standards have been transformed. After stagnating for centuries, per capita incomes doubled in the 19th century and surged sixfold between 1925 and now.
But what if progress is measured by the ability to live securely and with options, as opposed to just subsisting? In that case, there is much more to be done, as about 4.7 billion people still live below what we call the empowerment line.
