This holiday season, Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post turned away from politics to acknowledge some important recent health gains. Among them: declining poverty and violence, increasing reading among youth and life expectancy.
Rubin, a columnist who writes the conservative Post blog “Right Turn,” said those gains – all linked in some way to health – deserve to be celebrated.
In a recent blog post, Rubin cites recent data from the World Health Organization on how overall people around the world are living longer.
“Global average life expectancy increased by 5 years between 2000 and 2015, the fastest increase since the 1960s,” WHO wrote, citing its Global Health Observatory.
Overall, life expectancy globally is 71.4 years based on 2015 data, although it can range by gender and region. In Africa, life expectancy is 60 years and, in Europe, 76.8 years, according to WHO.
Rubin also cites an NPR interview earlier this year with Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker, who found that the long-term rate of violence is falling. While some kinds of violence are increasing (such as war atrocities in Syria), other kinds (U.S. homicides), are down, he said.
“For one thing, we must not assume that society is falling apart,” Pinker told NPR. “We’re pretty safe.”
Rubin concludes: “gratitude is in order.”
