📈 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.
💰 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.
🤑 Swedes have become three times wealthier and also more equal in the 21st century
Median wealth rose by nearly 400 percent between 1999 and 2020. The richest 10 percent reduced their share of total wealth from 67 to 57 percent. The share of adults with no net wealth fell from 21 to 16 percent.
🌐 Present at the Re-creation
Extraordinary times require extraordinary efforts from ordinary people.
🦟 Malaria vaccine has reduced child mortality by 13% in three African countries
A study confirms that the RTS,S vaccine has reduced overall child mortality by 13 percent in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. The effect was achieved even though only 71 percent of children received three doses and 40 percent received the fourth dose.
🌡️ Research committee that provides input to the IPCC drops the worst climate scenarios
The research committee ScenarioMIP, which develops the climate scenarios that form the basis for the IPCC's reports, has officially classified the previous worst-case scenarios RCP8.5, SSP5-8.5 and SSP3-7.0 as implausible.