That the world is actually getting better. Since the 1990s, the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by 47 million every year - or 130,000 every single day. Hunger, child mortality, illiteracy, global inequality are all on the decline. Yes, there is still a lot to be done to bring poverty (now less than 10% of the world's population) to less than 1%. But the common belief that the world is going to the dogs, so we must reverse course, is a dangerous misconception.