Around the beginning of each year, I customarily write a column about how we've just had the best year ever in the long history of humanity. This annual eruption of exuberance outrages some readers who see it as disrespectful of all the tragedies around us. Others welcome it as a reminder that even in our messed-up world, many trends are still going right.
Yet, just as some readers wanted reassurance, so did I. Precisely because I felt blue, I wanted to read a column putting grim news in perspective. It has become apparent that the only way I am going to read such a column is if I write it first so here goes.
For starters, let's note that the worst thing that can happen is not a Trumpian rant; I'd say it's to lose a child. And 2024 appears to have been the year in which the smallest percentage of children died since the dawn of humanity.
In 2024, the best guess of United Nations statisticians is that an all-time low of 3.6 percent of children died before the age of 5, a bit lower than in 2023 (which set the previous record).
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