1/ 📈 Simon Abundance Index 2023 📈

Our editor @Marian_L_Tupy and BYU's @gpooley just updated their resource abundance index with 2022 data.

The headline: Since 1980, resources have become 420% more abundant.

#SimonAbundanceIndex #EarthDay

📄: humanprogress.org/the-simon-abun… 2/👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Does population growth make resources scarcer?

Not according to the data.

Between 1980 and 2022, the world's population grew by 79.4%.

Over that same period, global resource abundance increased by 420%.

For the average person, it increased by 190%.

#SimonAbundanceIndex

🗽1/ Freedom is essential to progress, and it is declining.

The latest Human Freedom Index (HFI) from @FraserInstitute & @CatoInstitute shows a sharp fall in both personal and economic freedom since the beginning of the pandemic.

📄: cato.org/human-freedom-… 2/ Freedom is important for its own sake but also because it drives progress.

The freest countries are also the richest, most innovative countries, which pull the world forward.

1/ In 1972, the @ClubOfRome predicted population growth and over-extraction would lead to resource shortages and civilizational collapse within 100 years.

50 years later, they stand by their prediction: wired.com/story/the-infa… 2/ In those 50 years, resources of all kinds have become much more abundant: humanprogress.org/the-simon-abun…

But the world population continues to grow. Will we reach a breaking point?

🚨 The new Human Freedom Index from @CatoInstitute & @FraserInstitute has just been released:

cato.org/human-freedom-…

This edition covers the period between 2008 and 2019, the most recent year with sufficient data.

Unfortunately, the world continues to become less free.

(1/7) (2/7) Freedom is inherently valuable. We all have the
right to lead our lives as we wish, so long as we
respect the equal rights of others.

On top of that, the mechanisms of progress – things like innovation & trade – depend on freedom: humanprogress.org/open-the-story…

Food prices are rising in the U.S.

However, short-term price hikes do not negate the long-term trend. Over the last century, food has become dramatically more affordable in the United States.
humanprogress.org/rising-food-pr… Our editor Marian Tupy and @gpooley tracked the prices of 42 food items between 1919 and 2019 relative to wages for blue-collar and unskilled workers.

More details about the calculations can be found here:
humanprogress.org/u-s-food-price…
humanprogress.org/cheaper-food-i…

Here's what they found:

Yet another failure of communist central planning...
nationalreview.com/news/china-wei… China's one-child, two-child, and three-child policies have led to countless forced abortions and sterilizations: humanprogress.org/china-ended-it…

These human rights abuses occur primarily among minority groups like the Uyghurs: humanprogress.org/uyghur-genocid…

April 1st marks the beginning of #78DaysOfProgress, a thread that will outline seventy-eight different ways the world is getting better. 🌍📈

If you can't wait that long, you can check out all 78 trends in our bestselling book:

tenglobaltrends.org 💉Humanity is getting better and better at developing vaccines.

Compare the historical pace of progress with our response time to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more about this trend in our book: tenglobaltrends.org

#78DaysOfProgress
(1/78)

When the Queen ascended to the throne, the average income per person in the U.K. was 217% higher than that in Hong Kong. In 2017, the British made 30% less on average than the people of Hong Kong. How did that happen? humanprogress.org/article.php?p=… Since 1970, Hong Kong has consistently ranked as the freest economy in the world. The territory has zero tariffs on imports from abroad and a much lighter regulatory burden. humanprogress.org/article.php?p=…