this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
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Optimists Unite

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Optimists Unite Here

We are living in an age of unprecedented wealth, with millions entering the middle class every year. Homo sapiens live longer lifespans than ever before, with better nutrition, and better medicine than ever in our history. This is also the most peaceful time in our history, with record lows in crime and wars. The developing world is surging in wealth and in the west we have more opportunity and access to information than ever.

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[–] Keeponstalin 12 points 3 months ago

I don't know too much about it, but from what I understand the metric the World Bank uses to define the global poverty line is very flawed and doesn't accurately represent the amount of people in extreme poverty.

Considering how the World Bank is used for Neocolonialism, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case, but I haven't looked into enough sources to know for sure.

Here are a few points to keep in mind. Using the $1.90 line shows that only 700 million people live in poverty. But note that the UN’s FAO says that 815 million people do not have enough calories to sustain even “minimal” human activity. 1.5 billion are food insecure, and do not have enough calories to sustain “normal” human activity. And 2.1 billion suffer from malnutrition. How can there be fewer poor people than hungry and malnourished people? If $1.90 is inadequate to achieve basic nutrition and sustain normal human activity, then it’s too low – period. It’s time for you and Gates to stop using it. Lifting people above this line doesn’t mean lifting them out of poverty, “extreme” or otherwise.

https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2019/2/3/pinker-and-global-poverty