{"id":33391,"date":"2023-02-11T09:13:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T09:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/three-things-that-are-going-better-in-the-world-than-you-might-think-direct\/"},"modified":"2023-02-11T09:13:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T09:13:22","slug":"three-things-that-are-going-better-in-the-world-than-you-might-think-direct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/three-things-that-are-going-better-in-the-world-than-you-might-think-direct\/","title":{"rendered":"Three things that are going better in the world than you might think – Direct"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let us see. Theme 1: Extreme poverty First we need to know a little about what we believe about the world, as of now. Let’s start with how many people live in extreme poverty, that is quite crucial. What do you think? If you thought that extreme poverty has doubled or remained unchanged, you are not alone. In fact, almost 80 per cent of Norwegians believe that there are as many or even more people living in extreme poverty in the last 20 years, according to a nationally representative survey carried out by Norstat on behalf of news. But most Norwegians are wrong. The fact is that extreme poverty has more than halved in just the last 20 years. And, you don’t have to go back any further than the 1980s before over 40 percent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. But then something really happens. Today, well under 10 percent of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty. This is an enormous reduction in poverty for millions of people, and something that leads to increased living standards, better health, longer life expectancy and has a number of other positive effects. Why do so many of us get it wrong? It often seems like things aren’t going so well, right? An explanation could simply be about how our brains work. There are two main reasons why we have such a much more negative view of the world than the data supports, explains Hans Henrik Knoop, psychologist and professor at the University of Aarhus. He has worked a lot on how news affects how we humans perceive the world. The first point, he explains, is that our brains are built so that it prioritizes negative events over positive ones. Throughout our evolution, the brain has had more use for looking for dangers and threats than for nice things or good news. – In fact, it prioritizes negative events four times as much on average, he says. MORE EXPLANATIONS: Psychologist and professor, Hans Henrik Knoop, explains that our brain often prioritizes negative events over positive ones. It can affect our impression of how the world is going. Photo: Hans Henrik Knoop The second point is about the fact that the news often looks for conflict and drama when choosing the cases they present to us. He refers to the English expression “if it bleeds it leads”. It is therefore often the case that the news media opt out of positive events in favor of negative or dramatic events. This in itself can give a misleading impression of the world as a whole. – These two factors here work together and reinforce each other. It’s not just adding them together, you have to multiply them together, he points out. Difficulty distinguishing different types of poverty Another explanation for why Norwegians believe that many more are poor than the statistics show may be about our own standard of living. In Norway, we are simply so rich compared to many others, that it is not so easy for us to distinguish between different types of poverty. BIG DIFFERENCES: Aerial view of Mumbai in India shows the contrasts between rich and poor. Photo: Johnny Miller \/ mediadrumimages.com, Johnny Miller \/ mediadrumimages. \/ Johnny Miller \/ mediadrumimages.com There is a decrease in all types of poverty that are measured, but the changes are greatest among those living in so-called extreme poverty. They live on around NOK 20 a day. If we see a picture of someone living in a house with a tin roof, we probably quickly think that they are extremely poor. But there is actually a big difference between whether those who live in the house with tin roofs have electricity and lighting, whether they have something to cook with, and even something as simple as whether they have toothbrushes. Anna Rosling R\u00f6nnlund of the Gapminder foundation explains this well with a toothbrush in this video. The point she makes is as follows: People in extreme poverty often brush their teeth with their fingers or a stick, and use mud mixed with water as toothpaste. But people who have just a little more money can quickly afford a toothbrush. Toothbrushes don’t cost much, but this alone makes a huge difference to the health of your teeth, which in turn affects everything else in your life. If you earn even a little more money, you can quickly afford a toothbrush for each member of your family. This makes a big difference. The fact is that very few people brush their teeth with mud any longer. And the vast majority also have access to electricity and clean drinking water. But we are not very good at seeing these differences, simply because we have it so well in this country. It is important to point out that even though there is a decrease in all types of poverty, this does not mean that the problems have been solved, or that there are still not many people living from hand to mouth. That’s it. But it is worth noting that far more people have come out of extreme poverty in recent years than most Norwegians think. But what about other fundamental things we know affect how people in the world feel? Theme 2: Reading and writing skills Norway is one of the few countries in the world where almost everyone in the population can read and write. Good job, Norway. But what do you think about literacy around the world? Drag the line up or down to the percentage you think is right. Here, most Norwegians believe that things are not so bad, according to news’s \u200b\u200bsurvey. Most believe that it is probably approx. 65 percent of the world who can read and write, and quite a few believe that only 25 percent of the world’s population can read and write. If you think the same, you are still wrong. 85 percent of the world’s population can actually read and write. 200 years ago, only 12 percent of us could do it. But many still believe that it is approx. as many who can read and write as there were in the 1970s. Maybe we have a little outdated knowledge? Sounds like we have to read up here and. Fortunately, we can. In Scandinavia and a number of other countries in the West, we have been able to read and write well for quite some time. But since the 1970s, this has also accelerated in countries in South America, Africa and Asia – that is, almost everywhere else in the world. In China alone, it has gone from around 60 percent of the population being able to read and write to now almost everyone can. GREAT PROGRESS: Children at a floating school in Cambodia. Since 2007, the number of children receiving education in Cambodia has more than doubled, according to Unicef. It is an exciting development, but it seems as if we have not fully grasped this. More people get an education, learn to read and write, and in turn build societies that are characterized to a greater extent by the values \u200b\u200bwe value in our part of the world, such as democracy and equality. They will also trade and exchange services with countries like us, and we in turn profit from that. Another important factor here is women getting an education. Theme 3: Girls at school You may be beginning to understand a little which way this is going, but let’s take another quick quiz: Draw the line up or down to the percentage you think is right. Here, we Norwegians really haven’t followed the class. As many as 90 per cent of us are wrong, according to the survey carried out by news about this. A clear majority (63 per cent) believe that no more than 20 per cent of girls in low-income countries complete primary school, and some (27 per cent) believe that it can be around 40 per cent, which is correct. But it is actually more than 60 percent of girls in low-income countries who complete primary school. Only one in ten Norwegians know this. Now you know it and. What happened? First, a lot has happened in the last 20 years. In the year 2000, there were approx. 40 per cent of those who qualified, while in 2020 this had grown to well over 60 per cent. VOLUNTEER RUN SCHOOL: Children at a school run by volunteer teachers in Islamabad, Pakistan. The number of children who do not have access to schooling remains high in Pakistan, compared to international standards. The picture is from 2016. Photo: BK Bangash \/ Ap But did most Norwegians think that it was only 20 percent? Again, we roughly have to go back to the 1970s for that to be true. The world has not stood still since the 1970s. When so many more women get an education, it has quite big consequences. They get jobs, earn money which in turn makes the country they live in earn more money and can give even more women an education. Women with education make better health choices, and have children who survive to a much greater extent (infant mortality has also decreased) and live much healthier, better and longer lives. The world is moving forward So there are fewer people living in poverty, more people who can read and write, and more people getting an education than ever before. There is a higher standard of living, far less infant mortality, and generally speaking, people are living longer lives and are less afflicted by disease than ever before. This does not mean that the world is the way we want it to be, or that we should say we are satisfied with everything as it is. But sometimes we might forget how many bright spots there really are in a world that can seem dark. Let’s end with three things you can try to remember about how the world is going: In 20 years, we have more than halved extreme poverty in the world. Most girls in low-income countries now complete primary school. 85 percent of the world’s population can read and write. Sources Faktaboks Figures and data in the article are taken from: Inspiration taken from: Gapminder The book “Factfullness” by Hans Rosling The nationally representative survey of the Norwegian population was carried out by Norstat on behalf of news.
\n

\n
ttn-69 <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let us see. Theme 1: Extreme poverty First we need to know a little about what we believe about the world, as of now. Let’s start with how many people live in extreme poverty, that is quite crucial. What do you think? If you thought that extreme poverty has doubled or remained unchanged, you are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3675,110],"class_list":["post-33391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-direct","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}