Abundance / 01

Human Flourishing and Technological Abundance

A baseline reminder: technological progress has dramatically improved material life.

Human flourishing indicators normalized to 0-100

Life expectancy, GDP per capita, poverty reduction, and literacy on a common visual scale.

Life ExpectancyGDP per Capita% Not Living in PovertyGlobal Literacy
020406080100 18001850190019502000 Year Normalized index Life Expectancy: Year 2000, Normalized index 100GDP per Capita: Year 2000, Normalized index 100% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1980, Normalized index 100Global Literacy: Year 2000, Normalized index 100 Life Expectancy: Year 1820, Normalized index 0Life Expectancy: Year 1870, Normalized index 1.86Life Expectancy: Year 1950, Normalized index 50.5Life Expectancy: Year 1970, Normalized index 82.4Life Expectancy: Year 1990, Normalized index 96.3Life Expectancy: Year 2000, Normalized index 100GDP per Capita: Year 1800, Normalized index 0GDP per Capita: Year 1850, Normalized index 1.66GDP per Capita: Year 1900, Normalized index 7.63GDP per Capita: Year 1920, Normalized index 12GDP per Capita: Year 1930, Normalized index 14.8GDP per Capita: Year 1940, Normalized index 18.3GDP per Capita: Year 1950, Normalized index 22.5GDP per Capita: Year 1960, Normalized index 32.7GDP per Capita: Year 1970, Normalized index 48.7GDP per Capita: Year 1980, Normalized index 63.6GDP per Capita: Year 1990, Normalized index 79GDP per Capita: Year 2000, Normalized index 100% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1820, Normalized index 0% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1850, Normalized index 4.58% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1870, Normalized index 16.2% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1890, Normalized index 23.3% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1910, Normalized index 34.9% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1930, Normalized index 52.7% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1950, Normalized index 55.5% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1960, Normalized index 76.1% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1970, Normalized index 92.2% Not Living in Poverty: Year 1980, Normalized index 100Global Literacy: Year 1800, Normalized index 0Global Literacy: Year 1810, Normalized index 1.43Global Literacy: Year 1820, Normalized index 0Global Literacy: Year 1830, Normalized index 1.43Global Literacy: Year 1840, Normalized index 2.86Global Literacy: Year 1850, Normalized index 4.29Global Literacy: Year 1860, Normalized index 7.14Global Literacy: Year 1870, Normalized index 8.57Global Literacy: Year 1880, Normalized index 11.4Global Literacy: Year 1890, Normalized index 12.9Global Literacy: Year 1900, Normalized index 12.9Global Literacy: Year 1910, Normalized index 18.6Global Literacy: Year 1920, Normalized index 22.9Global Literacy: Year 1930, Normalized index 28.6Global Literacy: Year 1940, Normalized index 34.3Global Literacy: Year 1950, Normalized index 40Global Literacy: Year 1960, Normalized index 42.9Global Literacy: Year 1970, Normalized index 61.4Global Literacy: Year 1980, Normalized index 75.7Global Literacy: Year 1990, Normalized index 91.4Global Literacy: Year 2000, Normalized index 100
Data: human-flourishing.csv

Description

This module establishes the good-news baseline. Life expectancy, literacy, poverty reduction, and material output all improved sharply as modern technology matured.

Methodology

Four long-run indicators are normalized to their own observed 1800-to-2000 ranges and plotted on a common 0-to-100 scale. The point is directional comparison, not a single master score of human welfare.

Data

All chart files for this module are local to this research folder.

Sources

Limitations

The index is intentionally incomplete. It does not measure loneliness, virtue, meaning, inequality, local resilience, or spiritual health.