32 Reasons To Be Happy - Part Two

In Part 1 we looked at the work of Hans Rosling and his team to uncover the many fact based reasons to feel happy about the world.

Although it might not seem like it, things have never been better than the period of time we’re currently living in.

Here in Part 2, we look at eight more good things that are increasing:

1. Child cancer survival rates have climbed from 58% in 1975 to 80% in 2010.  Source: US National Cancer Institute

2. The share of girls enrolled in primary school has increased from 65% in 1970 to 90% in 2015.  Source: UNESCO

3. Monitored animal species have risen from just 34 in 1959 to 87,967 in 2017.  Source: Gapminder

4. Share of electricity coverage has increased from 72% of people having some access to electricity in 1991 to 85% in 2014.  Source: GTF by the World Bank & IEA

5. Share of people with mobile phones has climbed from 0.0003% in 1980 to 65% in 2017. Expect this to increase again significantly by the end of 2018. Source: GSMA, ITU

6. Share of people with water from a protected source has risen from 58% in 1980 to 88% in 2015.  Source: WHO, UNICEF & World Bank

7. Share of people with Internet access has grown from 0% in 1980 to 48% in 2017.  Source: Gapminder based on ISC & ITU via World Bank.

8. Share of immunisation for 1 year olds who received at least one vaccination has gone from just 22% in 1980 to 88% in 2016. This is a huge improvement considering the challenge of distributing vaccines in remote communities.  Source: WHO & Gapminder

Keep an eye out for Parts 3 & 4 and let us know in the comments below if you're aware of any other dramatically improved world statistics to be happy about.