Not only was the last decade the best of my life, it was best for the world:
A lot has changed in the past six years. The economies of the developing world have expanded 50 percent in real terms, despite the Great Recession. Moreover, growth has been particularly high in countries with large numbers of poor people. India and China, of course, but also Bangladesh, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Uganda, Mozambique and Uzbekistan – nine countries that were collectively home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s poor in 2005 – are all experiencing phenomenal economic advances. ..
We updated the World Bank’s official $1.25-a-day figures to reveal how the global poverty landscape has changed. … We estimate that between 2005 and 2010, nearly half a billion people escaped extreme hardship, as the total number of the world’s poor fell to 878 million people. Never before in history have so many people been lifted out of poverty in such a short period. …. The emerging markets of Asia are recording the greatest successes; the two regional giants, China and India, are likely to account for three-quarters of the global reduction between 2005 and 2015. … With few exceptions, however, those who care about global development have been slow to catch on to this story. We hear far more about the 64 million people held back in poverty because of the Great Recession than we do about the hundreds of millions who escaped impoverishment over the past six years. (more)
The greatest surprise, however, is the one taking place in Sub-Saharan Africa. Between 1980 and 2005, the region’s poverty rate had consistently hovered above 50 percent. Given the continent’s high population growth, its number of poor rose steadily. The current period is different. For the first time, Sub-Saharan Africa’s poverty rate has fallen below 50 percent. The total number of poor people in the region is falling too. (more)
Doesn’t sound much like stagnation to me.
loading...
Proper Dave 
Chris T 
Hopeful 
Prakash 
Douglas Knight 
PJF 
Gil 
bo 
jambo 
mike 
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by William Rinehart, pok rap. pok rap said: Best Decade Ever: Not only was the last decade the best of my life, it was best for the world: A lot has change… http://bit.ly/g1cnfn [...]
By Tweets that mention Overcoming Bias : Best Decade Ever -- Topsy.com January 26, 2011 at 12:05 pm
[...] the whole excerpt, or—if you’re more ambitious than I—read the entirety of each linked article. But [...]
By » If I cheer you on, will you save me a spot on the lifeboat? Riffraff and Bugaboos January 26, 2011 at 2:17 pm
[...] The Good Question Of The Day by our Jason Ruspini to Robin Hanson. [...]
By Hi Robin, can you list some innovations and inventions that have originated in the emerging world and cannot fairly be called “copying”? I am frankly having trouble. | Midas Oracle .ORG January 26, 2011 at 4:55 pm
[...] By some measures, the past decade was the Best Decade Ever. [...]
By News Bits February 5, 2011 at 9:23 am
[...] the decade just completed, the world has just experienced … its best decade ever. And this comes on the heels of another half-billion Chinese being freed from extreme poverty in [...]
By The Unbroken Window » Blog Archive » Breathtaking, Simply Breathtaking August 25, 2011 at 9:17 pm
[...] via Overcoming Bias : Best Decade Ever. [...]
By rePost::Overcoming Bias : Best Decade Ever : On the 8 Spot February 1, 2012 at 3:08 am