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From Paris to Syria through San Bernardino to Afghanistan, the world witnessed obscene and unsufferable tragedy in 2015. That was on top of the ongoing misery of hundreds of millions who are literally stunted by poverty, living lives shortened by preventable disease and malnutrition. But for all of that, 2015 also saw continued progress toward better quality of life for the considerable majority of the planet, alongside technological breakthroughs and political agreements that suggest the good news might continue next year and beyond. Tragedy and misery are rarer than they were before 2015—and there is every reason to hope they will be even less prevalent in 2016.
The news media, the politicians, and the bureaucrats love to gin up the doom and gloom, but the fact of the matter is that the human race is better off than ever before.
Less crime, less war, less starvation, less disease, less child mortality. The world is better-educated, better-fed, healthier, freer, and more tolerant—and it looks set to get richer, too.
2015: The Best Year in History for the Average Human Being - The Atlantic