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> the world has less poverty, war, violence and starvation than at any other time in history. Is this true, though? Certainly as a percentage of global populat

by c22 9y ago

> the world has less poverty, war, violence and starvation than at any other time in history. Is this true, though? Certainly as a percentage of global population things like poverty and hunger are in decline but some of this can be attributed to population increases. There were 795 million hungry people in 2015 [1], but this is more people than were alive in 1750. It stands to reason that 300 years ago there were considerably fewer individuals living on the brink of starvation. [1] http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/06/01/411265021/there-are-200-million-fewer-hungry-people-than-25-years-ago http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/06/01/41126502...

taurath 9y ago
In raw numbers, but the rate is what's important.
- c22 9y ago
  Why?
  - taurath 9y ago
    If 5 billion people are on the planet and 10% are in poverty, its probably better to be that 10% (trending downward) than it would be if you had 1 billion people at 40% poverty (trending flat).
redial 9y ago
Statistics can be used in many ways. You could also say that the "system" was able to feed and care for almost 6 billion people in 2015, almost the number of people estimated to have been alive since 10.000 BC until 1950.