The globalization of human development

By many measures, a revolution in living conditions is sweeping the world. Most people today are better fed, clothed, and housed than their predecesso rs two centuries ago. They are healthier, live longer, and can read and wri te. Women's lives are less centered on bearing and raising children, and po litical democracy has gained a foothold. Western Europe and its offshoots h ave been the leaders of this advance in the human condition. Most of the le ss developed world joined in the twentieth century, with the newly emerging nations of sub-Saharan Africa the latest to participate. Although the pict ure is not one of universal progress, it is the greatest advance in the con dition of the world's population ever achieved in such a brief span of time .