Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World

Fri, 19 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The world has improved enormously, and hardly anyone believes it. In 1800, about 85% of humanity lived in extreme poverty; today it’s around 9%. Child mortality has collapsed—in 1965, 125 nations had rates above 5%, and now only 13 do. Yet when Americans were asked whether extreme poverty had been halved over the previous twenty years, only 5% got it right. The Roslings’ point is not that we’re gloomy by temperament but that we’re systematically, measurably wrong about the basic facts. And the reason isn’t a lack of information. It’s ten overdramatic instincts, hardwired into how we think, that bend the data into a story of decline no matter what the numbers say.

Hans and Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund on SummaryShelf

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World