NOT THE END OF THE WORLD
by Hannah Ritchie
(Chatto &Windus, $40)
“In many ways, the world was getting better. But most people didn’t know this, and some were turning to radical solutions – depopulation, degrowth.
Swedish public health doctor Hans Rosling liked to survey attendees at international conferences on their basic understanding of health, development and poverty:
How many children lived in absolute poverty? What percentage of girls in developing nations went to school? What percentage of the world’s one-year-olds were vaccinated against measles? And how have these numbers changed in recent decades?
He found their responses were less accurate than random guesses –