Factfulness

A poll of people in thirty countries across the four income levels returned that “[t]he majority of people think the world is getting worse” (51). In fact, Rosling presents data showing the exact opposite. Twenty years ago, 29% of the world’s population lived on Level 1. Today, only 9% of the world lives in abject poverty. People are living better than they ever have, yet people everywhere still believe living conditions are getting worse. Rosling partly attributes this belief to news media showing a disproportionate number of stories about poverty-stricken areas, but again, the main fault goes to the observer who does not seek out fact-based information.

The negativity instinct is “our instinct to notice the bad more than the good” (65). Rosling outlines three causes for this instinct: a misremembering of the past, selective news reporting, and the idea that saying conditions are better sounds heartless when bad things are going on. In particular, Rosling urges the reader not to fall into the news trap. Positive change is often small and ignored in favor of larger, more dramatic stories. Remembering that conditions are improving even though they may be difficult in places and that the past is not perfect helps combat the negativity instinct.