Doomslayer: Progress Roundup
Falling global inequality, new trade deals, a drone that herds cattle, and more.
Economics & Development
82 percent of rural Indian households now have access to tap water, up from just 17 percent in 2019, representing over 125 million new tap water connections.
A recently updated report from our managing editor Chelsea Follett and the economist Vincent Geloso finds that not only has global well-being improved substantially since 1990, but global inequality in well-being has also fallen across many metrics.
Another analysis published in The Economist finds that global inequality in consumption spending is falling. In 2000, the richest 10 percent of humanity spent 40 times more than the poorest 50 percent. In 2025, they spent around 18 times more.
The United States has made new trade commitments, including large bilateral trade agreements with India and Argentina, and has also extended a program that lets many sub-Saharan African countries export certain goods to the US duty-free.
President Javier Milei has also been unilaterally lowering trade barriers. As a result of his actions, Argentine consumer goods imports were 55 percent higher in 2025 than the year before.
Energy & Environment
Saudi Arabia’s Royal Natural Reserve is now home to endangered red-necked ostriches, a close relative of the native Arabian ostrich, which was driven to extinction in the early 20th century. The ostrich is the twelfth creature to be reintroduced to the reserve as part of a plan to reestablish 23 species in the country.
China’s endangered Yangtze finless porpoise is recovering thanks to a fishing ban. The population is now estimated at 1,426 porpoises, up from 1,012 in 2017.
Deforestation dropped 25 percent in Colombia: the country lost 36,280 hectares of forest during the first three quarters of 2025, down from 48,500 hectares during the same period the year before.
Bogotá is becoming less smoggy. Thanks largely to improved infrastructure, the Colombian city’s air pollution fell 24 percent between 2018 and 2024.
Health & Demographics
A study of the RTS,S malaria vaccine’s effectiveness in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi found that vaccinated children suffered about 30 percent fewer malaria cases and 58 percent fewer severe cases than their unvaccinated peers.
A large UK study monitoring 25,000 teenagers over three school years found no evidence that time spent on social media or video gaming led to increased anxiety or depression.
Science & Technology
Waymo says it now provides 400,000 robotaxi rides per week, up from 200,000 around this time last year. That number will likely grow even more this year, with the company planning to expand operations to more than 20 new cities.
China has become the first country to issue commercial licenses for autonomous flying taxis.
A new startup plans to sell a drone that autonomously monitors and herds cattle, potentially saving ranchers hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.