We Are The Healthiest We’ve Ever Been
On average, humans are right now healthier than at any point in our past history
Note: with thanks to the Our World In Data team, who I’ve leaned on heavily for their excellent visualisations of human longevity in this piece. They are a registered charity, and if you have a few pounds/dollars to spare, I would recommend a donation. Data is both beautiful and vital.
There’s a common myth that you will find online. It’s often told by people hawking supplements, by health gurus, and in general from those who have something unproven to sell that they claim will make you healthier in some vague and obscure way. The myth goes like this: in this modern age, humans are unhealthy. We are fat, lazy, poisoned by pollutants, and every year we just get worse.
This is usually followed by “but buy MY product, it’ll fix all that” because of course it is.
The problem is, this idea is simply not true. While there are ways in which humanity is less healthy now than in previous generations, overall we are living in the healthiest age in humanity’s collective history. Not everything is sunshine and roses, but personally I’d rather be alive now than at any point in the past.
