Another perspective

The world is richer and healthier

Fewer people in the world today are suffering from poverty, hunger or disease than ever before. However we measure human well-being – life expectancy food availability, infant mortality or whatever – the world is a better place for most of us to live in than ever before.

To say this is probably not politically correct or fashionable today, but it is the central thesis of American economist Indur Goklany’s new book, The Improving State of the World. He has been accused of naivety, but he does not deny that war, disease and suffering still occur in the world. The condition of millions in sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, he regards as shameful but he says this should not detract from our progress towards making life better for many millions more.

He has a mass of statistical evidence to back up his claims. Daily food intake has gone up by 38% in poor countries since the 1960s, at a time when their populations have soared by 83%. Improved agricultural productivity has driven down food prices over the past 50 years. Life expectancy has obviously improved in developed countries but it has improved even faster in poorer countries. We are living longer and we are living healthier lives, in poor as well as in rich countries.

The outlook for mankind is thus not gloomy. Where people live in distress it is because of political mismanagement and/or a rejection of capitalism and globalization. When countries become richer, they also become cleaner, healthier and more environmentally conscious. Capitalism and technology are the liberating forces that have made life better for billions of people around the world.