Step back -- and see the path of progress.

PositionBusiness

WASHINGTON -- Progress has lately gotten a bad rap, because there seems to be so little of it. Violence wracks the Middle East; economies are sputtering; Ebola strikes fear. But if you step back a bit, there's plenty of progress. We ought to remind ourselves periodically that, in history's broad sweep, the long-term advances often overshadow the short-term defeats.

How far should we step back? How about 1820.

This seems an eternity, but as history, it's just a blink. The year roughly coincides with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, arguably the most important dividing line in the human experience. Before, societies were largely rural and traditional; after, they were increasingly urbanized and modern. A useful confirmation of these truths comes in a new study from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that reports changed living conditions since 1820. (The study -- "How Was Life? Global well-being since 1820'' -- is available at http://ow.ly/Clpwp.)

The biggest upheaval is the most obvious: population. Since 1820, the number of people on Earth has exploded, from 1 billion to about 7 billion now. (The United Nations forecasts it will reach nearly 11 billion by 2100.) This could not have occurred without immense improvements in farming and the rise of industries that favored living in densely populated cities.

Viewed over two centuries, economic growth has produced huge gains in incomes and living standards. New technologies delivered massive benefits. On a global basis, average per capita incomes rose 13 times from 1820 to 2010. Until recently, gains were concentrated in Western Europe and the United States, which recorded even larger increases. Europe's leap was 17 times to $20,841; America's was 22 times to $30,491. (All amounts are expressed in dollars at 1990 levels; in today's dollars, they would be higher.)

There were continuous, though erratic, improvements in health. In the 1830s, someone born in Western Europe typically lived 33 years; today, that is roughly 80 years. The study's earliest U.S. figures put life expectancy at birth at 39 in the 1880s; in the 1900s, it was 51. Today, it is also...

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