The average life expectancy in Africa reached 55 this year. Ten years ago, it was 50.

Via Andrew Sullivan

The violent crime rate (crimes per thousand people) dropped from 51 to 15 between 1995 and 2010

However...

more than two-thirds of Americans believe that crime has been getting worse, year after year.

-- CNN: Progress Overlooked

 ...take a moment to sit back and try to appreciate the stupendous difference in your quality of life that comes to you courtesy of indoor plumbing.

Yglesias

One year ago today I asked people to predict what the Dow Jones Industrial Average would close at a year from then -- i.e., yesterday.

Here's how it came down:

Last year's DJIA close as of August 26th: 11285
Averaged prediction for this year from one year ago: 11684
DJIA close August 26, 2012: 13158
Missed by: 1474, or 13%

Kudos to those who missed by ( Read more... )

...the rate of child death across sub-Saharan Africa is not just in decline-but that decline has massively accelerated, just in the last few years. From the middle to the end of the last decade, declines in child mortality across the continent plummeted much faster than they ever had before.

Via Yglesias

Cancer incidence and mortality have continued the decline that started in the early 1990s, according to an annual report from four major health organizations.

Medpage

In 1900, the U.S. infant mortality rate was approximately 100 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2000, the rate was 6.89 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

Washington Post

Solar energy photovoltaic (PV) companies manufactured a record 24,000 megawatts of PV cells worldwide in 2010, more than doubling their 2009 output.

Evwind.es

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...Wisconsin had the lowest rate of heart disease in the nation, a rate of 4.9 percent.

In a 'who pays these people?' moment, the report noted that the risk of heart disease was influenced by age. The lowest rates of heart disease were among younger people, under the age of 65 years old. ( Read more... )

( Read more... )