In today's culture of alarmism, it can be difficult to feel good about the world in which we live. Activist organizations, aided by the media, constantly tell doom and gloom stories about the current state of the world. Whether it's climate change, chemphobia, fear for our children’s safety, complaints about modern agriculture practices or the near constant drumbeat that the American diet (more specifically, the food industry) is killing us, it's hard to avoid these scary stories.
Happily, an unlikely source is offering relief from the mainstream media's anxiety-inducing drumbeat of Danger! Danger! Yesterday, Vox posted some useful charts showing just how much better life has gotten on planet earth.
Covering life expectancy (it's higher than ever), global GDP (it has surged), poverty (declining globally), deaths due to war (lowest ever), deaths from major diseases and child birth (record lows), hunger, freedom, and education–each of these data points shows us that the world is becoming better on a global scale.
Check it out here and feel better.