BAD, BUT (MUCH) BETTER*
Try answering the questions below:
1. On average, how many fewer year(s) of schooling does a 30 year old woman have than a 30 year old man? A: 1 year B: 2 years C: three or more years
2. In the last 20 years, the proportion of the world population living in extreme poverty has … A: almost doubled B: remained more or less the same C: almost halved
3. There are 2 billion children in the world today, aged 0 to 15 years old. How many children will there be in the year 2100, according to the United Nations? A: 2 billion B: 3 billion C: 4 billion
4. How did the number of deaths per year from natural disasters change over the last hundred years? A: More than doubled B: Remained about the same C: Decreased to less than half
5. How many of the world’s 1-year-old children today have been vaccinated against some disease? A: 80% B: 50% C: 20%
6. In 1996, tigers, giant pandas, and black rhinos were all listed as endangered. How many of these three species are more critically endangered today? A: Two of them B: One of them C: None of them
How did you do (correct answers below)? These questions were posed to over 12,000 people in 14 “developed” countries. The average person got only one right and very few (less than 2%) got them all correct*.
So what?! The awesomeness of these questions is that the world is actually making some significant progress in these areas, more than we sometimes imagine. Girls are almost as well educated as boys. Poverty levels are the lowest ever. Population growth rates are stabilizing. Given the quadrupling of world population, the relative devastation from natural disasters has been reduced by almost 90%. Infant illness prevention is happening. Conservation is working. Things may be BAD, but they are MATERIALLY BETTER than they were. The problem is our awareness about well-being is about 30 years behind the true situation.
Good news does not sell. Tragedy and violence is news worthy. Joy and peace seem to be uninteresting. Gradual and significant improvement is ignored. Misfortune is assumed the normal state of nature. A nearly empty cup of blessings is the default condition.
Real progress is occurring, and at a historically high and persistent rate. Be certain that the state of well-being of the least fortunate may be bad, but it is MUCH better than it was. That’s encouraging. It shouldn’t make us complacent, but it does give us cause to hope.
Correct answers: 1: A, 2: C, 3: A, 4: C, 5: A, 6: C
Reflection Source: www.Smallercup.org
Please freely share and widely.
*Source of the questions and data: Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World — And Why Things Are Better Than You Think” by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund
