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“Despite what we hear on the news…the great story of our time is that we are witnessing the greatest improvement in global living standards ever.”
– John Norberg
As the years go by, 2025 has been a good year, I think.
Derek Thompson goes further He says It has been an “extraordinary year for America,” citing, among other things, dramatic declines in traffic deaths, drug overdoses and suicides, the largest decline ever in homicide rates, and major advances in health care.
“This appears to be the first period on record in which all the leading causes of premature death — overdose, car crashes, homicide, and obesity — declined at the same time,” he said. He adds.
Noah Smith likewise Lists 10 reasons why America might be “getting it together again,” including rising life expectancy, peak social media use, and increased business dynamism.
More comprehensively, Human progress collects 1,084 good news stories reported this year: everything from Amazing decline Poverty in India to The return of the puffin To the United Kingdom.
If I’m not a regular reader of Human progress website, I’m not sure I’m familiar with any of them, because good news rarely makes the headlines.
This has always been the case – as the old newsroom saying goes: “If it leads, it bleeds.”
But this is even more true now. With fierce competition for our scarce attention, the media seems to be doubling down on its traditional strategy of scaring us with bad news.
In 2022, A.J Academic study It found “a pattern of increasing negative sentiment in the headlines.” Specifically, it found that headlines in 2019 were 314% more likely to reflect anger, disgust, fear, or sadness than in 2000.
It feels like things have gotten worse since then.
“We are suffering from the contagion of negativity,” says Marin Toby warns“Driven by a highly competitive media environment, in which newspapers, television and radio stations and websites present a highly distorted picture of the state of the world.”
Of course, the state of the world was far from perfect in 2025. War continued to rage, the climate continued to warm, governments continued to sink into debt, and the persecution of immigrants continued everywhere.
But the world is almost certainly better than we think.
Consider Gallup Poll Which found that 81% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in their lives – and only 20% are satisfied with the way things are going in the country.
“A country cannot do poorly if the vast majority of its citizens are having an excellent time.” Malcolm Cochran He notices.
Or consider the “affordability crisis” currently making headlines. After examining the evidence, The Economist He finishes “Life in America has never been so affordable for so many.”
Excellent news! But I suspect that won’t get many clicks.
So here’s my New Year’s resolution: give more clicks to good news reports.
Let’s check the charts.
All the bad news that can be printed:
Here’s the chart from He studies Finding “a pattern of increased negative sentiment in headlines.” Whatever the current state of the world is, it is not 314% worse than it was in 2000.
I Okay, but He was no:
Gallup poll mentioned above: 81% of Americans say they are satisfied with their lives, but only 20% say they are satisfied with America.
The children are not well:
As measured by employment and parenting, foot Reports Young people are becoming increasingly disconnected from society. I believe this upward trend is at least partly due to the upward trend in negative headlines.
Not making headlines:
For all the worry about an “affordability crisis,” wages have been growing faster than prices over the past decade, at least. In other words, things are more affordable, not less. (Yes, this applies to housing.)
Cutting feelings:
Starting with the pandemic, consumer sentiment (green) decoupled from real disposable income (blue) and never recovered. More than ever, people are more pessimistic than the data suggests.
Some other things that never recovered:
JP Morgan He finds that things like restaurants and air travel have fully recovered from the pandemic, but the movie industry and mass transit have not.
Change direction?
The Economist Reports That “the world has become surprisingly less angry.” Feelings of anxiety, stress, and anger decline from their highest levels, while feelings of laughter recover.
Generation Alpha is here:
Over 20% of Americans now play Roblox daily. I don’t know what that means for America, but I’m sure it does Something.
The changing world:
The number of births annually in Nigeria is now greater than the number of births in all of Europe. In Ethiopia more than in the United States; In Afghanistan, more than in Japan.
In 2026, there may be more optimists than pessimists, too.
I doubt he’ll make the news, though.
Have a great year, major readers.
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