Celebrate 75 Years of the UN’s Amazing Progress

Deaths in Wars – a FRACTION of what they used to be!        DOWN from 1946 – 12.39 per 100,000 to 2016 – 1.17 per 100,000

Life Expectancy: DOUBLED!      UP from 1950 – 45.8 years to 2014 – 71.2 years

People living in Extreme Poverty: QUARTERED!     DOWN from 1950 – 55% to 2015 – under 10%;

Children Dying under 5: QUARTERED!      DOWN from 1960 – 18.2% to 2015 – 4.3%

Literacy: the number of people who can read:  DOUBLED!      UP from 1940 – 42% to 2016 – 86%

The Green Revolution:  Agricultural yield per hectare – QUADRUPLED!      UP from 1961 – 1.4 thousand kg per hectare to 2014 – 4 thousand kg.

Women’s Right to Vote – now ALMOST  UNIVERSAL!      UP from 1950 – 24 countries to 2017 – 193 countries;

Immunization – Number of 1-year oldS who get at least ONE vaccination – HUGELY  INCREASED!      UP from 1980 – 58% to 2016 – 88%;

Number of people living in Colonies & Countries ruled by others: – a tiny FRACTION of what they used to be!      DOWN from 1945 – 750 million to 2019 – 2 million

Population Growth Rate:  HALVED!       DOWN from 1962 – 2.2% to 2019 – 1%

Maternal Mortality (mothers dying in childbirth): – a tiny FRACTION of what it used to be!       DOWN 100-fold since 1920;

Human Population: QUADRUPLED!       UP from 1940 – 2 billion to 2018 – 7.5 Billion

Hunger – undernourished people: More than HALVED!       DOWN from 1970 – 28% to 2015 – 11%

Child (10-14) workers: down by a THIRD!      DOWN from 1950 – 28% to 2018 – under 10%

Human Rights Treaties & Declarations:  Now we have MANY!      UP from 1945 – 0 to 2019 – 26 (main ones)

People with access to telephones: Numbers have risen like a ROCKET!      UP from 1950 – 3 per 100 people to 105 per 100 people (largely as a result of mobile phones – UP from 1985 – 0 to 2018 – 104 per 100)

People with access to Internet:  ROCKETED  UP!      UP from 1990 – 0 to 2019 – +/- 50%;

People with access to electricity:  ROCKETED  UP!      UP from 1990 – 71% to 2019 – 90%;

Smallpox – ERADICATED!      DOWN from 1850 – 148 countries with it to 1979 – 0 countries suffering from it;

HIV Infections per million people: HALVED!      DOWN from 1996 – 549 cases per million to 2018 – 238 cases;

Ozone-depleting substances – MASSIVELY reduced:      DOWN by 98% since 1986;

Review the Introduction to the United Nations created by a team of teachers for the UN’s 50th Anniversary. Though some of the information in it is out of date, it remains an inspiring document for teachers to use in schools to introduce their students to the UN’s agencies and mechanisms for establishing international agreements. Download it here: UN TEACHING KIT. You can also review a youth-created “History of the Past, Present and Future of the United Nations” entitled A World in Our Hands.  Created by hundreds of young people from over 100 countries, it outlines the way the UN works in an illustrated volume that will appeal to young people of all ages.