Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
@BjornLomborg
Sep 11, 2021 • 7 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
Global inequality is lower today than last 140 years

Ineq increase hugely in 1800s bc industrialized world pulls away

Ineq decline as poor world (China, India) starts gaining

Gini: 0=no ineq, 1= total ineq

New, amazing data from @PikettyLeMonde & co
wid.world/document/longr… Image
Income development 1820-2020:

In China, per person income dropped from 82% of world average in 1820 down to 20% in 1980, before rising to 109% in 2020

In Indonesia, it dropped from 57% in 1820 to 16% in 1950, up to 68% in 2020

wid.world/document/longr… Image
What drives global inequality?

Blue line shows domestic inequality: high, but lower in 1950s-80s

Orange line shows inequality between nations: increase dramatically after rich world industrialization, decline after 1980 as poor world is gaining again

wid.world/document/longr… Image
Who gained the most in the last 40 years of growth:

Much of the world's poor
The very richest

The relative losers were the lower and middle-classes in rich and middle-income countries (jobs outsourced)

wid.world/document/longr… Image
Who gained in income over the last 200 years?

Relatively: the world's top 30% (the first to industrialize, OECD)

Absolute: everyone got to be much, much better off — even the worst saw their incomes >5x

wid.world/document/longr… Image
Definition of global inequality treats entire world as one:

Just like inequality in, say, the US places all US individuals from lowest to highest income

Global inequality places all citizens from every nation from lowest to highest income

(see: gabriel-zucman.eu/files/teaching…)
It is a great data paper collating an immense amount of data to help us get a clearer view on incomes over the past 200 years

Cudos to Chancel & Piketty

(but take their 1800s industrialization powered by exploitation of 3rd world with grains of salt)

wid.world/document/longr…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Bjorn Lomborg

Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @BjornLomborg

Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Jul 3
Less Global Fire

Halfway through 2026, the world has burned at record-low levels

Every continent is below average, and Africa, Americas, and Europe are at record lows

Media only shows when stuff is burning, leaving us badly informed on climate change

gwis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/gwis.stat…Image
Less Global Fire

Halfway through 2026, the world has burned at record-low levels for more than three months

Every continent is below average, and Africa, Americas, and Europe are at record lows

Media only showing stuff burning leaves us badly informed

gwis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/gwis.stat…Image
2026 Fire in Europe at record lows

Halfway through 2026, Europe has burned less than in any year 2012-25

Every continent is below average, and Africa and the Americas are at record lows

Media only showing stuff burning leaves us badly informed

gwis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/gwis.stat…Image
Read 10 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Jun 25
Every year, Europe lets 10,000s of its citizens die from heat because of its ideological rejection of the century-old technology of air conditioning

With US-level air conditioning, Europe could prevent about 26,000 deaths in a year like 2022

rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/europes-dead…Image
EU: Lowest use of air conditioning

Highest rate of heat deaths

With US-level AC, it could save about 26,000 lives a year

Europe is rich and has, by latitude, fewer hot days than most inhabited regions

Its aversion to air conditioning is entirely because of an energy-degrowth ideology

rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/europes-dead…Image
@RogerPielkeJr Although we may think that everyone would have AC in the warmest countries, they don't

Even in hot Greece, one-third of homes don't have air conditioning Image
Read 4 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
May 12
Dementia risk down by two-thirds over past 40 years

In 1984, nearly 1 in 3 people in their late 80s had dementia

By 2024, it’s down to just 1 in 10

Data for US, but similar in Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, and France

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…, free: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12…Image
Dementia risk down by two-thirds over past 40 years

Possible explanations, smoking⬇️ and education⬆️, along with better nutrition and better management of hypertension, cholesterol, and depression

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…, free: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12…Image
Dementia risk down by two-thirds over past 40 years

— with no slowdown at the end of the 40-year period

So when you hear that the future will bring a tsunami of dementia because there will be many more old people, it ignores that each person will likely be less at-risk

(A bit like the 1970s worried about a tsunami of cancer, but age-adjusted death risks are down)

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…, free: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12…Image
Read 4 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
May 2
Textbook climate deception:

Lancet report blames climate for tens of thousands of European heat deaths

But hides that increase almost entirely due to an aging population

And ignores cold deaths, which are down much, much more

Refs and documentation in 🧵Image
Textbook climate deception:

Lancet report blames climate for tens of thousands of European heat deaths

But the increase is almost entirely due to an aging population

thelancet.com/journals/lanpu… ihmeuw.org/7jat, population.un.org/wppImage
Textbook climate deception:

Lancet report blames climate for 39,000 European heat deaths

But increase almost entirely due to an aging population

Real scientists show you the age-adjusted risk

(unlike scare-mongering campaigners)

thelancet.com/journals/lanpu…, ihmeuw.org/7jagImage
Read 7 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Oct 30, 2025
Climate professor Michael Mann claims “There is no greater threat to developing nations than the climate crisis”

His claim is wrong in many ways

1) Intuitively wrong. Poor parents across the world worry about hunger, poverty, disease, insecurity, bad education. When your kid could die tonight from an easily curable disease, your priority is not a 0.1°C temperature reduction in a century

Mann quote: edition.cnn.com/2025/10/28/bus…Image
WRONG: Climate professor Michael Mann claims “There is no greater threat to developing nations than the climate crisis”

2) Leaders in low- and middle-income countries find education, employment, peace, and health are at the top of their development priorities, with climate at 12th of 16 issues

docs.aiddata.org/ad4/pdfs/Liste…Image
WRONG: Climate professor Michael Mann claims “There is no greater threat to developing nations than the climate crisis”

3) World Bank’s own surveys show that climate is not high on most countries’ agenda

On average, less than 6% of countries have climate in their top 3 priorities
Image
Read 5 tweets
Bjorn Lomborg Profile picture
Sep 2, 2025
The world is burning less, not more

That's contrary to the climate narrative

2025 has seen dramatically less fire in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe

On this trajectory, 2025 could become the lowest-burn year in the 21st century

Did you see this reported anywhere?

Data: from satellites circling the planet 24/7 (MODIS), modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataprod/…

2025 data from Jan 1-Sept 2 shows 80% as much burned area as normally for same period 2012-24 from Global Wildfire Information System, gwis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/gwis.stat…

Light blue data shows extrapolation on current trajectory to full 2025Image
In 2025, the world is burning less, not more

That's contrary to the climate narrative

2025 has seen extraordinarily little fire in Africa, much less than average, and even less than the minimum, from 2012-24

Did you see this reported anywhere?

Data from Global Wildfire Information System gwis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/gwis.stat…Image
In 2025, the world is burning less, not more

That's contrary to the climate narrative

2025 has seen extraordinarily little fire in the Americas, much less than average, and even less than the minimum, from 2012-24

Did you see this reported anywhere?

Data from Global Wildfire Information System gwis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/gwis.stat…Image
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(