📈 Human Progress
In the last decades humanity has made great progress with less extreme poverty, increased health, wealth and democracy. We follow in the tradition of professor Hans Rosling.
📉 Deaths from intestinal infections have fallen by two-thirds since 1990, from 3.7 to 1.3 million
The rotavirus vaccine, introduced globally in 2006, is up to 98 percent effective against severe illness in infants in high-income countries. The share of deaths affecting children under five fell from 53 percent in 1990 to 30 percent in 2023.
🤑 New research: Freer economies grew without harming the environment
A study of 49 economic liberalizations shows that GDP per person rose 16 percent within ten years. Total greenhouse gas emissions did not increase, and deaths from air pollution declined. After the year 2000, emissions fell both per person and per dollar of economic output.
🌊 Chad's capital weathered record water levels without major damage
N'Djamena sits where the Chari and Logone rivers meet, leaving it highly exposed to flooding. During the 2024 rainy season the city protected 1.5 million residents even as rivers hit record levels, after clearing 217 miles of drainage and deploying 12 mobile pumps.
🇺🇳 The number of refugees in the world fell last year for the first time in a decade
The global number of refugees dropped by 3 percent during 2025 to 41.6 million. A total of 14.7 million displaced people returned to their home or origin areas during the year. Nearly 46,000 stateless people gained citizenship across 24 countries.
💰 EU cut emissions by 17 percent in a decade while the economy grew just as much
The EU's greenhouse gas emissions were 17.2 percent lower in 2025 than in 2015. Over the same period, the EU's GDP rose by 17.5 percent. Emissions fell in 23 of the EU's 27 countries.
🚰 The share of polluted drinking water in the US has been cut in half
The share of readings in American drinking water that exceeded health limits fell by half between 2003 and 2019. A new study has mapped 266 million readings of 1,250 different pollutants and shows how investments in water systems lower pollution levels.
🌳 Mangrove forests declined until 2010, but have grown substantially since
The regrowth in recent years has almost entirely offset the earlier losses. The total area is now only 0.5 percent smaller than in the 1980s. After decades of decline, the area of mangrove forests shifted from net loss to net gain around 2010.
🛫 More and more Africans are traveling within Africa - the fastest tourism growth in the world
Economic growth and rising prosperity in Africa are enabling more and more Africans to travel within their own continent. The number of tourists visiting African countries grew by almost 8 percent last year, the fastest growth in the world.
🌏 Globally a record number of people are satisfied with the freedom to shape their lives
82% of adults across 138 countries are satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives, up from 71% two decades ago. The largest gains are in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Eastern and Central Europe, where the share of satisfied adults has risen from 49% in 2009 to 82% in 2025.