Can it be that the world is getting better?

16 January 2015 06:30 pm - 0 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A A A

We have much to be glum about at the onset of 2015 -- the latest is the killings of the cartoonists in Paris by ultra Islamists. But we are brainwashed with bad news. “If it bleeds it leads”. One plane crash is worth more airtime than news that we are winning the fight against early death.

The World Health Organization has some telling facts. Over the last two decades infant deaths have fallen by half, death by measles by three-quarters and both tuberculosis and maternal deaths by a half. AIDs-related illnesses have been cut by more than a quarter. In 1960 one in five children died before the age of five. Today it is one in 20 and falling.

"MIT professor Steven Pinker in his 2011 book, “The Better Angels Of Our Nature”, brought to light a treasure trove of data proving that the world has become much more peaceful. Over the last 50 years deaths in war have fallen from an annual 300 per 100,000 people to less than one per 100,000."

Developing countries have caught up far more quickly in health than in wealth. For instance, Vietnam has the same health as the US had in 1980 but at present the same income per head as the US had in 1920.

Despite the Great Recession of the last six years poverty has plummeted. Although most of that drop has happened in China and India it has also happened in most Third World countries.

Population growth is slowing. The total of children in the world today is the most there are likely to be. As Hans Rosling of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute told the BBC, “We have entered the age of the ‘Peak Child’”.

Education is spreading rapidly for girls. In Muslim Bangladesh there are as many girls in school as boys. In conservative Saudi Arabia there are more young women in university than men.

Coming up in 2015 will be more war in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan. Of that we can be sure. There will probably be a year of “Cold Peace” between Russia and the West unless both sides can engineer a way out of the quite unnecessary Ukrainian imbroglio. The European Union might be thrown into disarray again if the British vote to leave it. The pace of action against Ebola, malaria and global warming will be out of step with what is necessary.

But also coming up in 2015 are many facts that can be seen already on the radar that suggest that 2015 will be the best year on the planet for humankind. We are outracing the Four Horsemen, extending the length of human life faster than pestilence, war, famine and death can take them.

It has long been intellectually fashionable to debunk the value of foreign aid. Yet the evidence is overwhelming that in most poor countries the great advances in medical care would not have been made without it. Take the
programme to fight AIDS in Africa initiated by President George W. Bush, head of a party that has long derided aid. It paid for the successful treatment of over five million people. The US aid programme is relatively smaller than European ones but maybe the important fact is that rich nations these days donate large sums of money out of an altruistic commitment to help the poor get on their feet.

Over the decades since the end of the Cold War, war has become less frequent and less deadly. It is true that in the last few years, mainly because of Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan, the number of fatalities has shown an increase after years of decrease, but the world over the downward trend has continued.

MIT professor Steven Pinker in his 2011 book, “The Better Angels Of Our Nature”, brought to light a treasure trove of data proving that the world has become much more peaceful. Over the last 50 years deaths in war have fallen from an annual 300 per 100,000 people to less than one per 100,000.

One reason for this has been the fast spread of democracy and the well-proven fact that democracies don’t go to war with each other. At the end of World War 2 there were less than ten democracies. Now it is commonplace. According to Freedom House, which measures the ups and downs of democracy and human rights, 45% of the world’s people are “free” and 30% “partly free”. That leaves only 25% which are unredeemed dictatorships. Most of that number are in China. Take China out of the equation and then only a quite small number of people live under totally dictatorial regimes.

Charlie Hebdo, bad news, is important but not as important as this good news. Nor, come to that, as the killings of 135 school children in Pakistan by extremist Islamists. Nor the US/Britain attack on Iraq that disturbed the equilibrium of the Middle East. Nor the general insensitivity of Westerners to the Islamic religion. How would Westerners feel if the media in Muslim countries made fun of Michelangelo’s statue of the Mother of God and her child, Jesus?
In 2015 we need a return to perspective -- to seeing the larger picture.

Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka

Comments - 0

Add comment
Comments will be edited (grammar, spelling and slang) and authorized at the discretion of Daily Mirror online. The website also has the right not to publish selected comments.

Can it be that the world is getting better?

"MIT professor Steven Pinker in his 2011 book, “The Better Angels Of Our Nature”, brought to light a treasure trove of data proving that the world has become much more peaceful. Over the last 50 years deaths in war have fallen from an annual 300 per 100,000 people to less than one per 100,000."

Comments - 0

Add comment

RECOMMENDED

UDA owned land in Thalawathugoda; UDA Minister Prasanna Ranatunga under the spotlight for forceful occupation of reserved land

Loss-making SMIB faces political pressure in recovering loans

Baltimore Bridge Collapse: MV Dali, SL authorities anchored in mystery?

Has Sri Lanka become a potential hub for the illegal wildlife trade?

Spotlight on Moragahakanda Development Project Moragolla villagers lose livelihoods and down to one meal a day

Ambitious Sri Lankan jobseekers ‘trafficked into Ukraine war zones’

Western purple-faced langurs see blue!

Most Viewed in News

23 year old youth ends up having his testicles removed

Belgian traveller scammed in Kalutara

Former MP Palitha Thewarapperuma dies from electrocution

Sri Lanka defaults on USD 6 billion payment despite rising reserves: Patali

Confusion remains if April 15 is a bank holiday

April 15 declared a government holiday

MIRROR CRICKET

How does CSK get best out of Pathirana?

Mendis, Mathews move up in ICC Test Rankings

Chamodi, Dewmi spins Sri Lanka U19 Women to big win

Amir, Wasim return to Pakistan national team

TODAY'S HEADLINES

Tax payers poised to cough up Rs.45 million on another debate on Easter attack

Renovation of Anula Maha Seya Mahanayake of Malwatta Chapter requests President to revoke agreement

Court of Appeal orders reallocation of Hajj quotas

Former Deputy Minister Thewarapperuma passes away after being electrocuted

Mendis, Mathews move up in ICC Test Rankings

Security raised for Champions League ties after threat

SLA target four events at Paris Olympic Games

Chamodi, Dewmi spins Sri Lanka U19 Women to big win