NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS ...: New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof says the world is making huge progress in defeating poverty and improving health.

• Author: Kristof, Nicholas D.
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

Cheer up: Despite the gloom, the world truly is becoming a better place. Indeed, 2017 is likely to be the best year in the history of humanity.

To explain why, let me start with a story. On a recent reporting trip to the African nation of Liberia, I met John Brimah, who caught leprosy as a boy.

At the age of 12, Brimah was banished by his village and forced to live in an isolated grass hut. His father would bring food and water once a day to a spot half way between the village and the hut.

For a year and a half, he lived in complete isolation as his leprosy worsened. Then a missionary from Ohio happened to pass by. "He heard me crying and investigated," Brimah recalled. The missionary took him to a leprosy center where he received treatment. Left untreated, leprosy can lead to the loss of fingers, toes, and even entire feet.

Brimah was cured, received a missionary education, and became a nurse. Now he's in charge of a leprosy hospital in Ganta, on the Liberia-Guinea border, making sure others get the kind of treatment that transformed his life.

Worldwide, leprosy cases have dropped 97 percent since 1985, and for those who still get the disease, it's now easily treatable.

The progress against leprosy reflects the larger gains against poverty and disease--which I believe may be the most important trend in the world today. Certainly it's the best news nobody knows about.

Perhaps the optimism doesn't feel right. You're alarmed by terrorism and the risk of rising seas, if we're not first incinerated by North Korean nukes (see p. 12). Those are good reasons for concern, but remember that for most of history humans agonized over something more elemental: Will my children survive?

Just since 1990, more than 100 million children's lives have been saved through vaccinations and improved nutrition and medical care. They're no longer dying of malaria, diarrhea, or having one's intestines blocked by wriggling worms.

A 'Stunning Decline' in Poverty

Nine out of 10 Americans say in polls that global poverty has been staying the same or worsening. So let's correct the record.

There has been a stunning decline in extreme poverty, defined as living on less than about $2 per person per day, adjusted for inflation. For most of history, probably more than 90 percent of the world population lived in extreme poverty; that number has plunged to less than 10 percent today.

Consider the progress we're making every single day:

* 300,000 people get electricity for the...