The Invisible Crisis Eating Modern Societies From Within
By almost every measure that development economists like to track, the twenty-first century is the best time in recorded history to be alive. Global extreme poverty has fallen from roughly 38% of the world's population in 1990 to under 10% today. Literacy, life expectancy, and access to information have all climbed to levels earlier generations couldn't have imagined. And yet, across wealthy and poor countries alike, people report feeling more disconnected, more distrustful, and more politically estranged from their neighbors than at almost any point pollsters have been asking these questions. The World Health Organization's Commission on Social Connection found that roughly one in six people worldwide experiences loneliness, with the condition now linked to an estimated 871,000 deaths annually. Edelman's global Trust Barometer has tracked a steady erosion in institutional trust across dozens of countries, with over half of respondents in its 2023 survey saying their so...