Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding—and How We Can Improve the World Even More: Summary & Key Insights

To understand why I say the world is getting better, we must first step back and take a long historical view. Since the mid-twentieth century, global development has undergone a transformation unlike anything before. After World War II, most of the world’s population lived in societies marked by high infant mortality, low literacy, and widespread disease. Income differences were stark—the developed world raced ahead while much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America lagged behind. But perhaps the most important point to grasp is that progress in life quality began long before many countries experienced rapid economic growth.

The decades following 1950 saw dramatic improvements in life expectancy. Countries across East Asia, Latin America, and even sub-Saharan Africa experienced health gains that outpaced their economic growth. Literacy expanded, new freedoms emerged, and the technology of information exchange began to touch even the most remote corners of the globe. The inequalities in income remained—and in some cases deepened—but inequalities in well-being narrowed considerably. A child born in Ghana or Vietnam today has a vastly better chance of surviving, learning, and finding opportunity than their grandparents did.

If we trace human development through time, we discover that progress is not linear nor confined to rich nations. Japan’s postwar rebuild is a story of explosive economic dynamism, but the rise in literacy and public health across much poorer countries tells an equally powerful tale. Today, even nations with modest incomes manage to vaccinate most children, provide basic primary education, and keep communicable diseases largely under control. This chapter reveals how history shows a decoupling of human progress from financial wealth—a break from the idea that only rich countries could afford progress. The lesson of history is that human well-being has become a global phenomenon.

One of the causes of our misunderstanding about global development is the near-religious attachment to GDP as the ultimate measure of success. For much of modern economics, growth in national income has stood in for growth in human welfare. But the core of my argument is that GDP, though convenient, does not tell us enough about what matters in people’s lives. GDP measures the size of the economy, not the health of its people, the opportunities they enjoy, or the freedom they experience.

In this section, I show the importance of shifting our metrics. Life expectancy, literacy rates, happiness surveys, political participation, and perceived well-being offer richer insights into development. A country with stagnant GDP growth but significant improvement in life expectancy or education has still made meaningful progress. Conversely, an economy that grows rapidly but fails to educate its citizens or provide justice cannot claim success.

This change in perspective alters everything—from how we think about policy to how we understand success as a global community. When India celebrates its information revolution, it is not merely because of rising export revenue, but because millions of people are increasingly connected and informed. When Africa’s mobile phone networks expand, human communication and access to markets flourish in ways GDP can scarcely capture. Measuring progress by human development indicators brings the humanity back into economics. It allows us to see people’s dignity, agency, and potential—the real currencies of growth.