These charts show the world is better than ever — even if things seem apocalyptic

Kenya

It's easy to think the world is ending when natural disasters are pummeling vulnerable islands and politicians are threatening nuclear destruction.

But take a step back and you'll find a more encouraging picture of where the human race is headed — at least from a public health and quality of life perspective.

Across the board, in matters of mortality, hunger, disease, and more, life is getting better for billions of people.

Here is a sampling of that global progress.

Extreme poverty is slowly going extinct.

Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than $1.90 a day. For about 150 years (between 1820 and 1970) the number of people dealing with it continued to rise. By the end of the 1970s, more than 2 billion people were classified as extremely poor.

People still seem to think the world is getting poorer, but the data show the number of people in extreme poverty has shrunk to 705 million from that 2-billion high, Melinda Gates explained in a recent Gates Letter.

"The larger historical trends are toward greater inclusion and caring," she said. "We definitely see it in global health. Governments are prioritizing it. Citizens are supporting it. And scientists are migrating to it."

The polio vaccine has nearly wiped out the disease worldwide.

New polio cases haven't gone down much in the last 17 years — mostly because they're already so close to zero.

In the 64 years since Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine, many countries have made concerted efforts to get people vaccinated. China saw its last cases in the mid-1990s and India about 20 years later.

In 2016, there were fewer than 40 new cases logged worldwide. Currently, just four countries have yet to eradicate polio.

Contraceptive use is higher than it's ever been.

One of the most effective methods for ensuring economic and social success in a nation is female empowerment. In its 2015 Gates Letter, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation noted that investments in women's health result in stronger workforces and economies in general.

Contraceptives help break the cycle of high fertility and child mortality, letting women focus more on themselves and their families. Roughly 300 million women in the 69 poorest countries used some form of birth control in 2016 — a jump of 30 million from 2012.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider