Is humanity doomed? Five ways the world is actually doing better – in data

If you think the world is doomed and everything is going downhill, you are wrong, but you are not alone.

The media tends to focus on daily isolated events, paying less attention to the slow and broader developments that have reshaped the world we live in. Sadly, this tends to paint a misleading picture of the state of things.

But in the name of enlightenment, let’s look at some of the hard, factual data about some of the most important indicators of wellbeing, health, and show you how things are not as bad as you might think.

We will use data from Our World in Data, a respected and transparent scientific online publication based at the University of Oxford that focuses on quantifying and analysing data about global problems.

Across many of the most important indicators that define our wellbeing, humanity is faring much better than ever before.

Child mortality, famine and poverty are at all-time lows, and life expectancy is at an all-time high.

"Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the common killers responsible for child and maternal mortality,” says the United Nations.

“Major progress has also been made on increasing access to clean water and sanitation, reducing malaria, tuberculosis, polio and the spread of HIV/AIDS”.

Let’s take a look at some of these numbers and what they say about the state of humanity.

In demography, child mortality refers to the death of children under the age of five. 

And today, child mortality is the lowest it has ever been.

In less than three decades, the figures have more than halved, from 12.5 million in 1990 to 5.2 million in 2019.

“This is a huge accomplishment that should not be overlooked,” say the authors of the Child and Infant Mortality report at