Max Roser

Notable Quotes

"The decline of global poverty is one of the most important achievements in history, but the end of poverty is still very far away."

from Angus Deaton: How Billions Were Lifted from Poverty · Updated May 22

Stories

The great doubling: human life expectancy over two centuries

New Capabilities

Professor at Oxford University

For most of human history, the average person could expect to live about 30 years. Two centuries of accumulated advances—clean water, sanitation, vaccines, antibiotics, nutrition, and poverty reduction—have more than doubled that figure to 72 years globally. The change is so comprehensive that the global average today exceeds what the healthiest country achieved in 1950.

Updated May 22

Angus Deaton: How Billions Were Lifted from Poverty

Built World

Active researcher at Oxford University

In 1820, more than 80% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty. By 2019, that figure had fallen to 8.9% at the then-$2.15/day line, a decline of roughly 0.35 percentage points per year sustained over two centuries.