Nicholas Kristof provides a reminder that, while there is much left to be done in the struggle to eliminate
poverty, extreme poverty is declining almost everywhere in the world. As theWorld Bank reported in April, over the course of the thirty years from 1980 to
2010, the proportion of the world’s population living on less than $1.25 a day
declined from 1 in 2 to 1 in 5. And there’s reason to believe that the
proportion can and will fall even further as disease prevention and development
methods that have succeeded in China, India, and across much of sub-Saharan
Africa are employed in those areas, many of which have been beset by chronic
conflict, that have yet to open fully to aid organizations.
This might be an opportune moment to revisit Hans Rosling's impressive presentation of development data for the two centuries beginning in 1810. As he says, "Pretty remarkable, eh?"