how to solve world problems

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The World’s Biggest Problems Are Interconnected. Here’s How We Can Solve Them This Decade

T wo decades ago, people around the world rang in the new millennium with a growing sense of optimism. The threat posed by the Cold War was fading slowly in the rearview mirror. Leading thinkers like Francis Fukuyama touted the benefits of globalization , saying it would bring democracy and prosperity to the developing world. The nascent Internet economy promised to bring us closer together.

The following 20 years took some of the air out of the assumption of steady progress, but when future historians assess the 21st century, the year 2020 is likely to serve as the point at which the optimism bubble burst. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a complex web of interlocking problems that have morphed into full-blown crises. The coronavirus laid bare the dangers of endemic poverty not only in the developing world but also in rich countries like the U.S., where millions lack health care and are one paycheck away from living on the street. Around the world, racial and ethnic minorities have demanded justice after centuries of structural discrimination. Woven through it all, the earth’s climate is increasingly unstable, posing an existential threat to human society as we know it. In the next decade, societies will be forced to either confront this snarl of challenges, or be overwhelmed by them. Our response will define the future for decades to come.

The recognition that these challenges are fundamentally linked isn’t new. Activists and academics have for many years pointed to the cascading effects of various social ills. Whether it’s the way racism contributes to poor health outcomes or gender discrimination harms economic growth , the examples are seemingly endless. But this understanding has made its way into the conversation about solutions too.

Notably, for the past five years, the U.N. has touted 17 interrelated sustainable development goals, objectives for building a more viable world, and called for a push to achieve them by 2030. The goals, which cover environmental, social and economic progress, are nonbinding but have become key benchmarks for commitments at a national and corporate level. Countries from China to the Maldives, as well as companies like Amazon , Microsoft and PwC, have committed to rolling out policies over the next decade that will set them on a path to eliminate their carbon footprints.

The understanding that these problems require holistic solutions has only grown amid the pandemic and its fallout. President Joe Biden has referred to four urgent crises—the pandemic, the economic crisis, racial injustice and climate change—and promised a push to tackle them all together. The European Union’s program to propel the bloc out of the COVID-19 crisis targets climate change, while incorporating equity concerns. As stock markets soared last year, institutions with trillions of dollars in assets demanded that their investments deliver not only a good return for their wallets but also a good return for society.

All these developments and many more have created new opportunities for bold ideas . These new ways of thinking will come from government leaders, to be sure, but also from activists, entrepreneurs and academics. Here, our eight inaugural members of the 2030 committee offer their own specific solutions—and in them, perhaps, the seeds of 21st century optimism.

This appears in the February 1, 2021 issue of TIME.

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Write to Justin Worland at [email protected]

14 Problems in the World — And Their Potential Solutions

This article is presented in partnership with project hope.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian organization, working side-by-side with local health workers and communities to save lives and improve the health and well-being of people around the world.

→ Learn more about Project HOPE

Chances are, if you’re a human being living in the world as part of this vast, diverse global community, you care about other people.

When crises strike, and you are heartbroken by the news — whether the culprit is climate disasters , health inequalities , or violent conflict — there’s a little spark inside you that desperately wishes things were different.

Then, you might feel frozen. 

These massive issues are indeed massive. They are big, overwhelming, and often the cause of huge systems — like colonialism, racism, sexism, and more — that many of us had no hand in building. But we do have a hand in dismantling them, and many of these large-scale problems are deeply intertwined with that work — and with each other.

The good news? That means we can solve them.

And solving global issues — or at least confronting them more proactively — starts with knowing about them.

Of course, we’re not asking everyone to become a world-class expert in income inequality or water and sanitation, but it helps to know about the issues we face so we can be part of the solution.

Here is a list of some of the major challenges of our time — and what is being done to change things.

Global Challenges & Their Solutions

Poverty is not only a lack of income or resources to live a safe, sustainable life. It intersects with so many other challenges and leads to outcomes like food and water insecurity, health concerns, little to no access to education, and more. 

According to the most recent estimates from the United Nations , as of 2015, 10% of the world’s population was in extreme poverty — living on less than $1.90 a day. 

The largest areas of the world facing extreme poverty are Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and the COVID-19 pandemic only made this issue worse, putting millions more below the international poverty line. 

While progress has certainly been made in eliminating extreme poverty, projections still show a major percentage of the world’s population in extreme poverty by 2030. 

Aside from extreme poverty, about 60% of the world’s population lives on less than $10 US per day . Additionally, the UN shares that about four billion people — a little over half of the global population — do not benefit from any form of social protection or support. 

Possible Solutions:

• Universal basic income
• Robust social safety nets
• Ending social marginalization
• Investments in equitable education
• Increased access to food and clean water
• Ending civil wars and armed conflict 

Why We Have Hope:

• The number of people in extreme poverty, while still too many, has fallen every decade . 
• Organizations and communities are working together to fight period poverty and hygiene poverty .
• New opportunities in the green economy open doors to financial security in areas across Africa and South Asia. 

Climate Change

It’s hard to sum up the seriousness of the climate crisis in just a few paragraphs. Scientists and leaders around the globe know that the planet is in grave trouble, giving us specific windows and countdowns to reverse the damage of climate change and save the world.

It’s a big ask. 

Whether climate change comes in the form of biodiversity loss, extreme weather events, resource depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, damages to human health, or any number of scary and persistent realities, repairing and restoring the planet should be our top priority.

Seriously, the United Nations calls climate change “the single biggest health threat facing humanity.” 

But before your climate anxiety rears its angry head (stay angry, just maybe a little less anxious!), it’s important to note that huge progress is being made. 

Whether it’s major corporations beginning to shift their unsustainable practices in alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals , governments investing in renewable energy or wildlife protections , or simply larger and more accessible cultural awareness about how to be better stewards of the Earth, we can face this.

• Pro-climate policy change
• Access to clean energy for all
• Promotion of sustainable economic growth (perhaps through Doughnut Economics )
• Wildlife conservation
• Ending reliance on fossil fuels
• Halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation
• Landback initiatives
• Social equality and justice
• The renewable energy sector is on track to hit net-zero goals by 2030 .
• Technological developments are working to protect wildlife and monitor human activity at sea .
• The U.S. has passed the largest and most comprehensive climate bill in the country’s history — and climate activists are just getting started.

→ Read more climate good news

Health Inequality

Regardless of whether it manifests as chronic disease, curable illnesses with vastly expensive treatments, or life-threatening epidemics, health inequality is central to the challenges of the global community.

Shaped by poverty and climate change, as well, health inequality leads to a lack of access to basic essentials, medicine, and economic opportunities, especially in developing countries.

While life expectancy has increased cumulatively in the last century, many countries still face high rates of disease and maternal and child mortality. 

Haiti continues to face cholera outbreaks. In Sierra Leone, one in 20 women die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth . And the World Health Organization calculates that 10 million people across the globe fall ill with Tuberculosis — a preventable and treatable disease — every year.

That being said, there is a lot to celebrate. As technological improvements, distribution of care, and funding dollars increase, there is hope for the future of global health.

• Clean drinking water and sanitation across the globe
• Improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture
• Equitable access to healthcare
• Equitable resources for healthcare providers to succeed
• Doctors are using AI to more effectively diagnose and treat tuberculosis. 
• Namibia is ahead of schedule in goals to eliminate HIV/AIDS .
• Women in Sierra Leone are getting degrees in neonatal nursing to expand care.

→ Read more health good news

War & Conflict

With violent conflict, wars, and terrorist insurgencies popping up around the globe in places like Sudan , Ukraine , Afghanistan , Somalia , and more, peace feels more and more distant by the day.

Often a result of economic, political, religious, or cultural strife, war is not only detrimental to the soldiers and veterans on the front lines, but also for the civilians, economies, lands, and cultures impacted by violence.

In fact, experts estimate that 90% of wartime casualties are innocent civilians . As of August 2023, at least 940,000 people have been killed by direct war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan. 

The number of people who have been wounded or fallen ill as a result of war is much higher, and these calculations do not include people who have died as a result of destruction, contamination, poverty, or other war-related issues. 

The human cost of war cannot be underestimated, and the need for peace is paramount.

• Stopping terrorism
• Strengthening democracy
• Protecting free speech and access to information
• Peace negotiations and treaties
• Economic penalties for aggressors
• Disarmament
• This nonprofit turns firearms into gardening tools .
• An organization in Ukraine is creatively problem-solving to house civilians who have been displaced within the country due to war.
• A Civil War expert has outlined how to keep America from civil war .

→ Read more good news in response to war and conflict

Displacement

As of the end of 2022, 108.4 million people have been forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

Of that number, 35.3 million are refugees, 62.5 million are internally displaced, 5.4 million are asylum seekers, and another 5.2 million are in need of international protection. 

What’s even more staggering is that over half of those people come from just three countries: Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. As neighboring countries become generous hosts , others impose strict immigration policies , and more complex challenges present themselves.

Aside from the stress of war, conflict or whatever else may have caused someone to flee their home, they are met with barriers like financial and housing issues, language barriers, lack of access to education or healthcare, and even prejudice and racism. 

The trauma of fleeing is often met with the trauma of resettling , which causes further harm and stress for those most in need of safety and stability.

• Strong resettlement support systems
• Safe routes to sanctuary
• The end of trafficking, looting, and violence for refugees seeking asylum
• The end of racism and xenophobia
• Improved international relations and diplomacy 
• This organization is finding creative solutions to housing Ukraine’s internally displaced communities
• A Somali refugee now leads the clinic she visited as a child
• Ukrainian refugee psychologists in Poland are providing mental health help to their peers, which provides them with job opportunities

→ Read more refugee good news

Food Insecurity

According to the World Bank, approximately 9.2% of the world’s population faced hunger in 2022 . Moderate or severe food insecurity impacted 29.6% of the global population in 2022. That’s 2.4 billion people.

Hunger has compounding impacts on health, economic well-being, education, and sustainable development. The bottom line? If you can’t nourish your body and mind, you can’t do much else. 

Whether caused by climate change, wealth inequality and poverty, inflation, supply chain issues, war, or all of the above, food insecurity impacts people across the globe at staggering rates. 

In fact, the United Nations currently shares that we are not on track to reach the goal of Zero Hunger , as part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, by 2030. 

That said, people are working hard to turn things around. 

• Assistance from initiatives like the World Food Program  
• Sustainable agriculture
• Climate resilience
• Gender equality — especially focusing on the women who make up 45% of the global agricultural workforce
• Decreased food waste
• Wealth redistribution
• Tech startups are doing their part to help feed families and connecting hungry folks to resources with ease
• A teen is fighting food insecurity with hydroponic gardens in communities in Israel and the U.S. 
• Government involvement works! Governments and nonprofits likely kept millions of Americans from food insecurity during COVID-19

→ Read more food good news

Water & Sanitation Insecurity

WASH — or water, sanitation, and hygiene systems — are crucial to the health and development of a country. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control , 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water at home, 3.6 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation services, and 2.3 billion lack basic hygiene services, like soap and water, at home — and 670 million have no access to hand-washing facilities at all. 

In addition to the universal detriment to health and safety that comes as a result of WASH insecurity, there is also a large-scale impact on gender equality as well.

A lack of adequate sanitation for girls and women impacts menstrual health and often keeps them from attending school. Additionally, women and girls are more likely to be responsible for collecting water for their families, also making it difficult for them to attend school.

• Nature-based solutions like wetland restoration, mangrove conservation, and preserving of flood plains
• Installation of clean water and sanitation systems in areas of need
• Automation of water treatment and processing
• Proper disposal of contaminants
• Cape Town, South Africa solved its water crisis through community collaboration
• Vending machines in Nairobi provide cheap, clean water in impoverished areas
• Activists are working to ensure that the Navajo Nation has access to clean water

→ Read more good water news

Mental Health

There has been a 13% rise in mental health conditions and substance use disorders worldwide over the past decade, and the WHO estimates that one in eight people in the world live with a mental health condition . 

While mental disorders include a wide variety of conditions and experiences, most all can have a substantial impact on all areas of life, like school or work performance, relationships, and community. Unequal access to healthcare further exacerbates these challenges, as well.

The WHO estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy $1 trillion each year. Despite the widespread nature of mental health struggles, the global median of government health expenditures on mental health is less than 2%. 

• Investment in the improvement and availability of mental healthcare
• Widespread access to effective treatment and care
• De-stigmatization of mental health conditions
• Improved treatment of mental health conditions through effective research
• Implementation of prevention programs
• Improved living conditions on every level
• Lawmakers are increasing mental health funding
• Advancements like telemedicine and equitable insurance coverage are making mental healthcare more accessible
• Passionate advocates are doing their part to fund mental health research  

→ Read more good news about mental health

Gender Inequality

It’s certainly no secret that gender plays a major role in how likely you are to succeed and thrive in the world. Gender inequality encompasses all kinds of compounding issues, like economic opportunity, education, health and survival, and political empowerment, to better understand where women and girls require more support.

About 2.4 billion women of working age are not afforded equal economic opportunity, and 178 countries maintain legal barriers that prevent their full economic participation, according to the World Bank .

Worldwide, 130 million girls are out of school , also according to the World Bank. While enrollment rates and parity with male peers are rising, completion of schooling is still low among girls around the globe. 

As far as health and survival, women’s health actually declined in 2021 , including sobering data from the pandemic, as well as consistently abysmal maternal health statistics worldwide. This is, of course, not to mention, the increasingly dangerous terrain of reproductive justice in the U.S. and beyond. 

Lastly, although women are increasingly present in political conversations, they still pale in comparison to their male peers. As of the beginning of 2023, 11.3% of countries have women Heads of State , and 9.8% have women Heads of Government, according to the UN. 

• The end of political persecution of women
• The end of child marriage and sexual harassment
• Expanded economic opportunities — especially in the green economy
• Women’s leadership widely supported
• Protected and expanded access to women’s healthcare
• Removal of barriers to success, like clean water and menstrual hygiene
• Equal human rights and freedoms allowed for all, no matter their gender
• Women are improving their own health outcomes by entering the medical field in countries like Rwanda and Sierra Leone
• This NGO aims to educate 5 million girls in Africa by 2030
• More women are becoming entrepreneurs than ever before

→ Read more good news about women

Children’s Rights

Children make up about a third of the total human population, and although their human rights — like the right to speak out and express opinions, and the rights to equality, health, education, clean environment, and a safe place to live — are protected in the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), many still face harm. 

(By the way, the UNCRC is the most ratified human rights treaty in the world, and only one member of the UN’s 197 member states hasn’t ratified it — the United States.)

These harms include physical, sexual, or emotional violence or neglect; child labor violations; child marriage; genital mutilation; the recruitment into armed conflict; and more. 

In fact, about 1 billion children between the ages of two and 17 are estimated to have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence or neglect in 2015, according to the WHO. 152 million children are engaged in child labor , according to World Vision. And, according to UNICEF, 41% of girls in least-developed countries are married before the age of 18 . 

• End child marriage
• Enable strict consequences for the violation of child labor laws
• Invest in and support policies to protect children
• Ensure access to necessities like clean water, food, and education for all children
• Eradicate poverty 
• Reduce violent conflict
• And if you’re the United States… ratify the UNCRC
• This startup helps people turn their wedding gifts into educational opportunities for girls in need as a way to end child marriage
• Ukrainian refugee children are finding normalcy and development through playrooms in Moldova
• The world has experienced a 59% decline in deaths of children under five since 1990

→ Read more human rights good news

Disability Rights

The WHO estimates that 1.3 billion people in the world — or one in every six people — have a disability .

While having a disability in itself isn’t a bad thing or a moral failing by any means, it significantly impacts one’s quality of life and social status. 

Disabled folks face many health inequities that arise from unfair conditions like stigma, discrimination, poverty, social exclusion, a lack of education and employment opportunities, and barriers in the health system.

Additionally, disabled people have twice the risk of developing other conditions, such as depression, asthma, diabetes, and more. Plus, the world is simply not built with disabled folks in mind. For example, disabled folks might find inaccessible transportation up to 15 times more difficult to navigate than able-bodied people. 

• Universal and accessible design in cities and buildings
• Improved access and affordability of healthcare
• De-stigmatization of disabled people and disabilities in general
• Policies that ensure equal opportunity in both education and employment
• Widespread willingness to provide modifications and/or accommodations to disabled folks
• Removal of social, physical, communication, and attitudinal barriers
• “Disability doulas” are helping people with newly diagnosed disabilities
• These popular pharmacy mascot dolls are giving disabled textile workers more career mobility 
• Disability activists are making social media a more diverse and educational place

LGBTQ+ Rights

As of 2022, 68 countries criminalize homosexuality worldwide . Most of them are located in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and four countries even have legislation that imposes the death penalty for sexual relations between people of the same sex. 

Of course, this is an egregious violation of human rights, and all LGBTQ+ folks should be free to love who they love, without the fear of persecution, violence, or death.

Even in the United States, where LGBTQ+ folks have many more freedoms than queer folks in other countries, these freedoms are under attack. In 2023, the ACLU tracked nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures across the country, many of which aimed to criminalize transgender people or gender-affirming care. 

While, globally, the average level of acceptance for LGBTQ+ people has increased since 1980 — especially in western Europe, North America, and Australia — 57 countries and locations have still experienced a decline in acceptance during that time, according to the UCLA Williams Institute. 

• Decriminalization of homosexuality (or any LGBTQ+ identity)
• Improved social acceptance of LGBTQ+ folks
• Creation of agencies and initiatives that protect and improve the well-being of LGBTQ+ people
• Increased nondiscriminatory healthcare services, economic security, and financial stability across the board
• Creation of safe, inclusive, welcoming, and affirming schools for LGBTQ+ youth
• Greater access to safe and stable housing for LGBTQ+ folks
• This nonprofit helps LGBTQ+ people flee persecution  
• Transgender fiber artists are using quilts to help tell their stories
• LGBTQ+ legislators in the United States are working hard to protect trans rights

→ Read more good LGBTQ+ news

Education Inequality

A lack of access to education is a large pillar of gender inequality across the globe. According to UNICEF, nearly one in three adolescent girls from the poorest households around the world has never set foot in a classroom. 

And we know it matters! According to the World Bank, one additional school year can increase a woman’s earnings by 10-20% . 

While global literacy rates have exponentially increased in the last century, education is still widely unequal, and primary school attendance remains a challenge, especially among developing countries. 

Another UN Sustainable Development Goal, ‘ Every Child Learns ,’ aims to provide equitable access to learning opportunities, improved learning and skills for all, and improved learning and protection for children in emergencies and crises. 

• Reduced cost of education
• Free or reduced meals for students at school
• Improved resources and pay for teachers
• Improved access to necessities like water and hygiene
• Flexible modes of learning through technology and modern teaching models
• Increased accessibility for disabled students
• A new program, partly created by Hank Green, is helping to make getting college credits more accessible and affordable
• This school on wheels provides tutoring to students experiencing homelessness
• A school in Uganda is fusing Indigenous and financial education in a new, innovative approach

→ Read more good news about education

Homelessness & Housing Insecurity 

While it is difficult to track, the UN estimates that there are approximately 1.6 billion people living in inadequate housing worldwide , with around 15 million being forcibly evicted each year. 

Whether caused by war or conflict, climate disaster, skyrocketing cost of living, or the lack of affordable housing in an area, homelessness touches nearly every region of the world. 

Poverty and homelessness are closely linked , contributing to a cycle of instability that makes it difficult to find and keep work. Homelessness also impacts personal and public health concerns , occasionally leading to the spreading of disease, substance abuse, and poor mental health.

Countries that have successfully confronted homelessness include those like Finland , which have implemented a Housing First approach. 

• Implementation of Housing First policies
• Sustainable building models and city planning
• Improved crisis response
• Permanent supportive housing for vulnerable populations
• Increased employment and income opportunities
• An African startup is using plastic waste to build affordable housing
• This TikTok-viral Sleep Trailer invention aims to provide affordable and transitional housing
• Creative housing solutions are bringing affordable housing to cities all around the globe

→ Read more housing good news

The world faces an array of challenges; but we also have the solutions.

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• Published: 16 September 2015

How to solve the world's biggest problems

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Nature volume  525 ,  pages 308–311 ( 2015 ) Cite this article

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Interdisciplinarity has become all the rage as scientists tackle climate change and other intractable issues. But there is still strong resistance to crossing borders.

Asking for US$40 million is never easy, but Theodore Brown knew his pitch would be a particularly tough sell. As vice-chancellor for research at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the early 1980s, Brown had been tasked with soliciting a major donation from wealthy chemist and entrepreneur Arnold Beckman, a graduate of the university. Beckman was hesitant, believing that the university should receive most of its support from the state. So Brown decided to devise a project like nothing he had ever seen before.

In 1983, he and his colleagues put together a proposal for an institute that had little chance of being funded through normal channels. It would defy the powerful disciplinary cartography that defines many modern universities, bringing together members of different departments and inducing them to work together on common projects. Brown argued that it would allow faculty members to tackle bigger scientific and societal questions than they normally could.

“The problems challenging us today, the ones really worth working on, are complex, require sophisticated equipment and intellectual tools, and just don't yield to a narrow approach,” he says. “The traditional structure of university departments and colleges was not conducive to cooperative, interdisciplinary work.”

It was an early example of the push for interdisciplinary research that is now sweeping universities around the globe. Although Brown was not completely alone — the interdisciplinary Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico was founded around the same time — he was advocating crossing boundaries before it became fashionable. And his proposal met strong resistance. Department heads fretted that faculty members — and their grants — would be snatched away. Some colleagues scorned Brown's idea of creating open office spaces to foster interactions between graduate students: surely the din would make it impossible to get serious work done. And then there was the stigma. “Interdisciplinary research is for people who aren't good enough to make it in their own field,” an illustrious physicist chided.

But Beckman liked the idea and committed the full $40-million asking price — at that time, the largest-ever private donation to a US public university. A few hectic years later, the 29,000-square-metre Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology was born.

The institute struggled to recruit a qualified director willing to take a chance on the new model, so Brown took the helm. Soon, large grants from organizations such as the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation poured in, hushing many critics. By the time Brown left the institute in 1993, other leading universities were sending delegations there to learn from the model. Researchers from Beckman — which now has more than 200 affiliated faculty members — have achieved attention-grabbing results, including helping to create one of the first graphical web browsers.

Since the Beckman was founded, the interdisciplinary model has spread around the world, countering the trend towards specialization that had dominated science since the Second World War. Cross-cutting institutes have sprouted up in the United States, Europe, Japan, China and Australia, among other places, as researchers seek to solve complex problems such as climate change, sustainability and public-health issues. The interdisciplinary trend can be seen in publication data, where more than one-third of the references in scientific papers now point to other disciplines . “The problems in the world are not within-discipline problems,” says Sharon Derry, an educational psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies interdisciplinarity. “We have to bring people with different kinds of skills and expertise together. No one has everything that's needed to deal with the issues that we're facing.”

Even so, supporters of interdisciplinary research say that it has been slow to catch on, and those who do cross academic disciplines face major challenges when applying for grants, seeking promotions or submitting papers to high-impact journals. In many cases, scientists say, the trend is nothing more than a fashionable label. “There's a huge push to call your work interdisciplinary,” says David Wood, a bioengineer at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. “But there's still resistance to doing actual interdisciplinary science.”

Highly disciplined

The idea of dividing academic inquiry into discrete categories dates back to Plato and Aristotle, but by the sixteenth century, Francis Bacon and other philosophers were mourning the fragmentation of knowledge.

One problem lay in the rapid growth of science: there was too much information spread across the disciplines for any one person to handle. Science historian Peter Weingart of Bielefeld University in Germany points to Carl Linnaeus's taxonomic treatise Systema Naturae as an example: between its first edition in 1735 and its last in 1768, the catalogue swelled from 10 pages to 2,300, covering 7,000 species.

In the nineteenth century, the disciplinary boundaries of the modern university started to take root. The disciplines surged in number and power after the Second World War, as nations, particularly the United States, boosted their research support. “It's the moment when universities increased exponentially,” says Vincent Larivière, an information scientist at the University of Montreal in Canada. “And the size of the university increased by creating more departments.”

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union also played a part, says Weingart. The Soviets boasted a research programme geared towards solving societal problems, for example improving agriculture to boost food security. By contrast, US President Dwight Eisenhower argued that basic research should be untethered. “In the field of intellectual exploration, true freedom can and must be practised,” he said in a 1959 speech. And although basic research need not necessarily be disciplinary, it does not have the same pressure towards interdisciplinarity as does applied research.

Specialities proliferated as individual disciplines were repeatedly subdivided. Biology was split into botany and zoology, then into evolutionary biology, molecular biology, microbiology, biochemistry, biophysics, bioengineering and more. Late last year, Jerry Jacobs, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, counted the number of biology-related departments at Michigan State University in East Lansing. There were nearly 40.

We have to bring people with different kinds of skills and expertise together. No one has everything that's needed.

From this thicket, the term 'interdisciplinary' emerged. The earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary dates back to December 1937, in a sociology journal. But even at that time, some believed that the word was already overused. In a report to the US Social Science Research Council in August that year, a sociologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois lumped 'interdisciplinarity' in with other “catch phrases and slogans which were not sufficiently critically examined” ( R. Frank Items 40, 73–78; 1988 ).

As an academic movement, interdisciplinarity caught on during the 1970s and has been growing ever since, says Larivière. He credits that rise in part to libraries, which began to stockpile subscriptions and improved researchers' access to journals in alternative fields. A particle physicist could more easily browse biology journals, say. Furthermore, the US focus began to shift from basic research and scientific liberty back to societal problems such as environmental protection, which can rarely be tackled by a single discipline.

The United States was not alone: in 1994, an influential book partially sponsored by the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research called The New Production of Knowledge (Sage) predicted, among other things, an increasingly interdisciplinary future as science seeks to solve socially relevant questions. That book had an impact, says Larivière, particularly in the European Union's Fifth Framework funding programme, which ran from 1998 to 2002 and emphasized interdisciplinary, problem-oriented research.

Soon, interdisciplinary institutes began to sprout up around the world, each with its own unique structure and purpose. One of the first, the Santa Fe Institute, founded in 1984, focused on applying advanced mathematics and computational skills to a range of disciplines. Others, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research in Cambridge, or the neuroscience-focused Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, tackle questions within a specific discipline but draw in work from other fields. And some, such as the Monash Sustainability Institute in Clayton, Australia, focus on specific problems.

Even as the trend gained momentum, interdisciplinary researchers continued to hit the same hurdles that Brown had encountered. In 1998, chemist Richard Zare at Stanford University in California helped to launch the interdisciplinary institute Bio-X. But an influential colleague urged him not to move his lab into the Bio-X building. Doing so would essentially take Zare away from the chemistry department and his committee and teaching duties there, the colleague argued, weakening the department.

Although he was well established, Zare worried about going against the establishment. “It was very serious,” he says. The risk is even greater for young professors seeking tenure, he notes.

In 2004, in response to the growing interest in interdisciplinary work — and the challenges that face those who attempt it — the US National Academies released a report called Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research . The authors advised institutions to lower barriers, for example by making budgets flexible so that costs could be shared across departments.

There is constant pressure on me to make a cross-faculty, cross-institution alliance. If I want to build a new building, The more allies I have, the easier it is to raise the money.

The publication drew a large audience. It has been downloaded more than 7,600 times and had impact beyond US shores. At Durham University, UK, says physicist Tom McLeish, administrators referred to the report when they were forging a series of on-campus interdisciplinary centres. Around that time, McLeish was serving as pro-vice-chancellor of research, and saw interdisciplinarity as a way to make the small university shine on the world stage. He battled with department chairs who feared that the centres would reduce their budgets, and he worked to set up a promotion system that rewards investigators on large team grants in the same way as those on single-investigator grants. The university now has interdisciplinary centres on topics ranging from resilience — both ecological and psychological — to the history of medieval science.

The interdisciplinary trend is also growing in Asia. In 2000, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) laid out a plan for interdisciplinary research, and universities have launched several cross-cutting centres over the past decade, including the Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies at Peking University in Beijing. The NSFC plans to launch further interdisciplinary projects in the coming years, says Yonghe Zheng, deputy director-general of the foundation's Bureau of Science Policy. “China is a developing country,” he says. “So the universities and institutes can quickly set up some new centres which reflect the new trend in interdisciplinary research.”

Nanyang Technological University in Singapore established its Interdisciplinary Graduate School in 2012; it already has 335 students, out of a total graduate-school population of 2,000. Nanyang's interdisciplinary graduate programme, which bills itself as the first of its kind in Asia, was designed in part to expand the university's fundraising options, says Bo Liedberg, dean of the programme. Because industry is often focused on real-world problems that cross disciplines, an interdisciplinary programme could foster more collaborations with business, he reasons.

That focus on interdisciplinarity as a revenue stream is widespread, says Merlin Crossley, a molecular biologist and dean of the faculty of life sciences at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. “There is constant pressure on me to make a cross-faculty, cross-institution alliance,” he says. “If I want to build a new building, the more allies I have, the easier it is to raise the money.” Arizona State University in Tempe saw its federal funding rise by 162% from 2003 to 2012 as it promoted interdisciplinarity across its campus .

Despite this pressure, interdisciplinarity's reach remains modest. For every Nanyang or Durham, there are hundreds of universities that have not embraced significant change. Departmental dividers remain in place — and in power — at most institutions, says Nancy Andreasen, a neuroscientist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City who co-chaired the committee that wrote the National Academies report more than a decade ago. “It has been an enormous disappointment.”

For institutions or programmes that have embraced interdisciplinarity, the transition has not always been easy. The most common mistake is underestimating the depth of commitment and personal relationships needed for a successful interdisciplinary project, says Laura Meagher, a consultant based near St Andrews, UK, who coaches interdisciplinary teams. “You see people who think it's not much more than stapling a bunch of CVs to the back of a proposal,” she says. “They don't realize that it takes time to build a relationship.”

When the push for collaboration comes from the top, some of that focus on personal relationships could be lost — leaving the project to suffer, she says. The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) in London, which since 2004 has coordinated and carried out sustainable-energy research, learned how delicate interdisciplinary relationships can be, says Mark Winskel, a social and political scientist at the University of Edinburgh who evaluated the centre's first decade. Its initial five-year phase went well, he says, and culminated in a key publication: Energy 2050 , which synthesized the institution's results and translated them into recommendations. But the next five-year phase failed to produce a similar achievement.

You see people who think it's not much more than stapling a bunch of CVs to the back of a proposal. They don't realize that it takes time to build a relationship.

Winskel surveyed members and found that changes in the UKERC's structure designed to open it to a wider community — for example by offering several rounds of fresh grants in the middle of phase two — had upset some established long-term relationships. “We became a more diverse community of scholars and disciplines,” he says. “But that also means you become less cohesive.” The UKERC learned from the experience: its third phase, launched in May 2014, aims to provide more stability for collaborative relationships.

Social scientists in particular often face that lack of cohesion , says Thomas Heberlein, a social psychologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. When funders emphasize the societal impacts of the work they support, social scientists are often called in to assess the broader implications of a project. But, he says, it is obvious — and insulting — when a social scientist is asked to join a project as a way to tick a box, without a true commitment to incorporating the discipline into the project.

Social struggle

Several UK studies have found that social scientists are less likely than researchers in other disciplines to want to participate in interdisciplinary projects. For Heberlein, who has long collaborated with ecologists and environmental scientists, one of the stumbling blocks is what he calls “the hegemony of the natural sciences”. Those disciplines tend to be held in higher esteem than more qualitative fields such as the social sciences, and they are deemed more rigorous by funders and researchers , he says. That imbalance leads to frustration and undermines collaboration. Heberlein, whose speciality is in conducting surveys of public opinions, says that natural scientists often naively suggest that they can design and execute surveys themselves using an Internet tool such as SurveyMonkey. Heberlein disagrees: “It's really hard to do the stuff we do,” he says. “Our measurements are complicated.”

Lack of respect can run in many directions when different kinds of researchers come together. Wood says that bioengineers are always cautioned against having their grants reviewed by panels of biologists, who may be dismissive of engineering research goals and measurements. But he has also served on review panels in which engineers have recoiled at the limitations of clinical research.

As more researchers become involved with interdisciplinary work, the mutual suspicion has started to ease. There have also been some signs of success in the funding arena. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), for example, says that interdisciplinary proposals fare as well as, or slightly better than, more conventional applications. The European Research Council, by contrast, has noted that interdisciplinary grant proposals on average do not fare as well in review panels as projects that are narrower in scope.

The atmosphere for publishing is also mixed. Interdisciplinary researchers have long complained that it is difficult to get their papers into top-tier disciplinary journals. Heberlein says that the rise of interdisciplinary journals has helped in his field, but he worries about the standard of some of the papers they publish. And he questions the wisdom of training graduate students across disciplines before they have immersed themselves in the rigours of one area. “You've got to develop your disciplinary skills first,” he says. “The bad news is the quality of this research is pretty bad and may be getting worse.”

Many view the institutional push for interdisciplinarity as an experiment in progress. “The celebrations have begun, but the actual data on what kind of difference this makes are not in,” says Scott Frickel, a sociologist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

As more institutions adopt new ways to organize research, some are also trying to rethink their assessment processes, says McLeish. In July, Veronica Strang at Durham and McLeish released a report called Evaluating Interdisciplinary Research , and he was surprised when academic societies and funders flocked to learn more. “We didn't anticipate that we'd be launching this report into an atmosphere where everyone wants to know this,” he says.

And the pace of change varies across the globe. In the United States, the NIH ran a programme to stimulate interdisciplinary research from 2004 to 2012. It resulted in some changes, such as starting to recognize multiple principal investigators on what had been considered single-investigator grants — a switch that removed a disincentive to collaborate. Since then, the agency has not perceived a need to follow up with any other incentives, noting that there are more than 4,000 active NIH-funded research projects that bill themselves as interdisciplinary. “Our general sense is that interdisciplinary research has become a very standard way of doing science,” says Betsy Wilder, head of the NIH Office of Strategic Coordination. “It really pervades NIH funding.”

In some other countries, the experiment has just begun. Chemist Ayyappanpillai Ajayaghosh, director of the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram, India, says that momentum is building in his country to promote more interdisciplinary projects. In Japan, theoretical physicist Tetsuo Hatsuda left the University of Tokyo in part because he felt that the boundaries between disciplines were too heavily enforced there. In 2013, he joined the RIKEN research institute in Wako, Japan, and launched an interdisciplinary team of theoretical physicists, chemists and biologists to work out techniques that will accelerate all three fields. He hopes that the effort will stimulate more interdisciplinary work in the country. “Japan is a little behind other countries,” he says. “Theoretical science is a good starting point because it is easy for us to interact.”

Some 25 years after it opened, the Beckman Institute's experiment in interdisciplinary research has been a success, says Brown. The centre continues to attract distinguished faculty members and large team grants — last year it won a research contract worth up to $12.7 million from the federal government's Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity programme — even though competition for such money has increased as more universities build interdisciplinary teams.

And Brown bristles at the suggestion that the global push for interdisciplinarity might be a fad. “The answer is a resounding 'no',” he says. “Things have changed — now people focus on big problems, and if you go for a big problem you need to be interdisciplinary.”

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21 september 2015.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed the report Evaluating Interdisciplinary Research to Tom McLeish and his colleagues at Durham. The authors were Veronica Strang and McLeish. The text has been updated.

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Why interdisciplinary research matters 2015-Sep-16

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Europe’s superlab: Sir Paul’s cathedral 2015-Jun-23

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Arizona's big bet: The research rethink 2014-Oct-15

Science funding: Science for the masses 2010-May-26

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Ledford, H. How to solve the world's biggest problems. Nature 525 , 308–311 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/525308a

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Why do we need to know about progress if we are concerned about the world's largest problems?

Why have we made it our mission to publish “research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems”?

At the heart of it is a simple truth. When we look around us, it is clear that the world faces many very large problems:

• Every year, 300,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes; this means that on any average day, 830 mothers die. ( source )
• The majority of the world – 60% – lives on less than $10 per day. And almost 10% live in ‘extreme poverty,’ on less than $2.15 per day. ( source )
• The world deforested 47 million hectares of forest in the last decade; that’s an area the size of Sweden. ( source )
• 60 million children of primary school age are not in school. ( source )
• Almost half of the world's population lives in non-democratic regimes. ( source )
• 13% of the world’s adults do not know how to read and write. ( source )
• And 3.8% of all children die before they are five years old. This means that 5 million children die every year — 10 dead children every minute. ( source )

This is a list of terrifying problems. And as we don’t hear much that would tell us otherwise, it is easy to be convinced that we can’t do anything about them. Even in the extensive 24/7 news cycles, we hear little that suggests it would be possible to make progress against these problems. The same is true for our education — questions like how to end hunger, child mortality, or deforestation are rarely part of the curriculum.

As a consequence, it is not surprising that many have the view that it is impossible to change the world for the better. For many large problems, the majority, in fact, believe that they are getting worse. 1

This, however, is not the case. We know that it is possible to make progress against these large problems because we have already done so. Thanks to the efforts of people around the world, we have achieved progress against these problems over the course of the last generation. Each of the big problems listed above was much worse in the past:

• The number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes declined from 450,000 women in the year 2000 to 300,000 per year. ( source )
• The share living in extreme poverty fell from 38% to less than 10% since 1990 – the share living on more than $10 per day increased from a quarter to more than a third. ( source )
• Global deforestation declined three-fold — from 151 million hectares in the 1980s to 47 million hectares in the 2010s. ( source )
• The number of primary school-age children who are not in school declined from over 100 million in the 1990s to 60 million. ( source )
• The share of the world living in democracies increased from 35% in 1980 to 54% today. ( source )
• The share of the world’s adults who can read and write increased from 56% in 1980 to 87% today. ( source )
• The share of children who died before they were five years old declined from 9.3% in 1990 to 3.8% – the death toll fell from 12 million dead children per year to 5 million. (sources 1 & 2 )

Because our hopes and efforts for building a better future are inextricably linked to our understanding of the past, it is important to study and communicate the global development up to now. Studying our world in data and understanding how we overcame challenges that seemed insurmountable at the time should give us both confidence and guidance to tackle the problems we are currently facing. Living conditions can be improved, we know this because it has been done.

For each of the problems we face today, we need to also address the difficult question of whether and how we can make progress in the years ahead.

Let’s look at one of the very worst global problems of all from that list above, the death of children. One of the leading causes of death for children is malaria. Malaria infections kill 300,000 children in one year. 2

People who study malaria see several reasons that make it very likely that continued progress against this disease is possible. The factors that are holding us back in the fight against malaria are the three factors that often limit our progress:

• More money would make more progress possible: The world has halved the death toll from malaria within the last 15 years, largely due to insecticide-treated bed nets . Sleeping under these nets protects children from the mosquitos that transmit malaria, and paying for these nets has been shown to be an effective way to reduce malaria’s death toll.
• More people who set themselves the goal to work towards progress can make a difference: It is not just more money that can lead to more progress against malaria. Researchers recently made good progress in the effort to develop a vaccine against malaria. Further improving this technology and making it available to all those who need it could save many lives and eventually eliminate the need for millions to sleep under bed nets every night to be protected. What is needed are skilled, hardworking people who understand the problem ahead and set themselves the goal to better solutions to the problems we face.
• More attention and the understanding that it is a solvable problem would make more progress possible: Ultimately, I don’t think we would see a lack of funding and talented people working on malaria if malaria would get the attention it deserves. 300,000 child deaths per year means 820 dead children on any average day.

What is true about malaria is true about many of the problems the world faces. Making progress is hard, but it is possible.

The progress made over the last two centuries has not ended in our lifetimes. There are possibilities to make the world a better place. It is on us to realize this.

The possibility of progress should matter for what we do with our lives

It is possible to lessen substantial problems that many people are suffering under, it is possible to foresee problems that are on the horizon and reduce these risks, and it is possible to achieve changes that allow the environment around us to flourish.

This fact – that progress is not inevitable but possible – should matter for all of us.

Personally, I believe that if we are in a situation in which it is possible to make progress, then we are obliged to seek progress. But even if you do not see it as an obligation, you can also see it as an opportunity , a chance to help others, and the possibility to do useful work in your life.

Whether we see it as an obligation or as an opportunity, we should ask ourselves what we can do with our money, our contributions to public discourse, our democratic votes, and our lives to help the world make progress.

How does Our World in Data’s mission respond to this?

Our World in Data publishes research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.

We made this our mission for two reasons. We want to provide the research and data that those working towards progress need – we want to serve that community .

And we want more people to learn about big problems and to make the decision that they use their energy and resources to contribute to progress – we want to grow that community .

Serve those who work towards progress by providing research and data on the world’s largest problems

There are already many thousands of people who dedicate their lives to finding solutions to the world’s very large problems.

We know that many of them rely on us: engineers who build safer energy systems, activists who campaign for better health care, scientists who develop new drugs, politicians who want to learn from other countries, teachers who want to inform their students about global poverty, business founders who bring new technologies to the market, and nonprofits that need to decide where to focus their efforts.

Our audience is not defined by who they are but by what they care about and want to do. The people we want to serve are those who work towards progress against large problems.

They all need data and research to understand the problems they are working on – and to decide which problems to work on in the first place. They might want to know which diseases are most prevalent in different parts of the world, how the mix of energy sources compares across countries, or how global access to clean cooking fuels or clean water has changed over time.

We can serve these people well because much of the information they need already exists. The problem that we have to solve here is that this existing knowledge is often neither accessible nor understandable – it is often stored in inaccessible databases, locked away behind paywalls, and buried under jargon in academic papers. Our goal is to enable those who want to solve large problems to do their best work by increasing the use of evidence and making the existing knowledge on the big problems understandable and accessible.

Grow the number of people who work towards progress by challenging a culture that doesn’t make it clear that progress is possible

Our second goal is to grow the number of people who decide to contribute to progress against the largest problems.

There are already many people who dedicate much of their time to studying big global problems and making it central to their lives to seek ways to solve them. But we believe that it is possible to grow this group further and make it a very powerful force within the global culture because most people are concerned about the world’s problems and would want to contribute to a better future.

The problem, however, is that being concerned about big problems is only one precondition for someone to work towards progress. The other key requirement is that a person knows that progress is possible. 3

The graphic here is a representation of our argument.

The big orange circle represents the many people concerned about big problems. The blue circle represents the much smaller group of people who know that progress is possible. The idea is that it is those who are part of both groups who will make the decision to work towards progress. We therefore want to grow the blue circle so that one day it becomes as large as the orange one.

The historian Anton Howes studies the history of innovation and writes , "People innovate because they are inspired to do so […]. And when people do not innovate, it is often simply because it never occurs to them to do so. Incentives matter too, of course. But a person needs to at least have the idea of innovation — an improving mentality — before they can choose to innovate." To make progress, we need to have the idea that progress is possible.

It is crucial to grow the number of people who know that progress is possible because almost all the world’s most pressing problems are collective action problems . These are problems that can’t be solved by anyone individually and instead require that many take them seriously and join forces to work towards a solution. When we fail to find solutions to such problems, it is because we don’t get started in the first place, and this is the situation we are in with many large problems. Instead of changing the world for the better, we get stuck in what the social scientist Alice Evans calls a ‘despondency trap’ – not knowing about positive change, we mistakenly think that positive change is impossible.

The fact that many believe that progress is impossible should not be too surprising. The powerful forces in our culture are not offering the perspective that progress is possible or even happening. Instead, they are often suggesting that decline is inevitable.

The news media is neither drawing our attention to the large problems we face nor to the fact that we are making progress against some of them. The news media focuses on daily events, but neither the big persistent problems (such as those listed above) nor the progress against them find a place in news cycles.

Our education systems are also not making us wonder how we can make progress, we are hardly even learning about the progress we made. Few leave school knowing about even the most fundamental achievements in how humanity improved their living conditions. The poor knowledge of the basic facts on global development is evidence for it.

Popular culture, too, is often detrimental. Frequently, it romanticizes a past that never was, and when it speaks about tomorrow, it paints a dystopian vision of the future rather than daring to imagine the better future that is possible.

Sometimes even researchers or activists reinforce the belief that progress is impossible. In their effort to emphasize the severity of the problems they themselves are concerned with, it can happen that they unwittingly present it as hopeless to change the status quo. In the worst cases, this achieves the opposite of what they want, passive fatalism rather than effective engagement.

And lastly some intellectuals perpetuate the idea that to believe that progress is possible is a sign of being poorly informed about the true state of the world. The difficulty of some of the world’s problems does warrant some deep pessimism, but not every problem we face justifies a pessimistic outlook, and doom and gloom should never become anyone’s intellectual default position. Sometimes the optimist is the realist, and it is the unjustified pessimism itself that is standing in the way of making progress.

Our team’s goal is to change this. By making the research and data on the world around us accessible and understandable, we want to offer a perspective that allows us to understand the difficulty of the problems ahead and their possible solutions.

We at Our World in Data believe that it is possible to grow a culture of people seeking solutions to large problems. Within each of the cultural forces I’ve just listed, some people are working towards change. There are researchers, activists, intellectuals, journalists, and teachers who are as keen on finding and communicating the solutions to move forward as they are on explaining the problems ahead. There is a strong culture of progress already, and we hope to expand it further.

The motivation for this work is what I have summarized at the outset: if it is possible to make progress, then we are obliged to make progress. It is not acceptable that much of the world lives in poverty, that children die, that people are hungry, that we are destroying the environment when it doesn’t have to be that way.

We are not saying that everything is getting better

To avoid any doubt, it is worth emphasizing what we are not saying.

We don’t believe that everything has gotten better. Some things have gotten much worse. Since the 1940s, we’ve had nuclear weapons that can destroy our civilization; burning fossil fuels leads to air pollution that kills millions every year; and the land use for agriculture continues to drive species into extinction.

And it is certainly possible that we remain stuck in the status quo or that things get worse; existential risks do not nearly receive the attention they deserve ( Toby Ord’s book is an excellent overview of these risks).

Progress is not inevitable, and how the future turns out depends on what we do today. We are not saying we will make progress, but that we can make progress. Whether the problems we face are as old as humanity or were created by ourselves within the last decades, what matters for us now is the same. We should study these problems carefully because we can reduce our use of fossil fuels, we can give up on nuclear weapons, and we can work to bring down poverty, child mortality, and hunger.

These two goals belong together – we should study the world’s big problems because it is possible to make progress

A common mistake in thinking about problems and progress is to believe that focusing on one of the two would require not considering the other. That presenting the evidence for progress would mean to gloss over the problems we still have, or vice versa, that presenting the evidence on global problems would make it necessary to avoid mentioning the progress we’ve made.

For example, in an article in the New York Times in which he cites our work, Nick Kristof writes: “So I promise to tear my hair out every other day, but let’s interrupt our gloom for a nanosecond to note what historians may eventually see as the most important trend in the world in the early 21st century: our progress toward elimination of hideous diseases, illiteracy, and the most extreme poverty.”

I think this is not the right way of looking at it. Studying progress should not mean taking a break from the awful problems we face. These two sides belong together, it’s because we know that we can make progress that it is so important to study the problems we face.

To see this, consider the alternative. If it weren’t possible to make progress, then there would be little reason to study big problems. All we could care about was ensuring that each of us personally, and perhaps a few people close to us, were well and safe. It is the unusual time we live in – the fact that we face large problems against which we can make progress – that makes it imperative to focus on the problems we face.

We are interested in progress because we are not living in the best of all possible worlds.

Explaining progress and explaining problems belong together. We need to learn about the problems because we can make progress, and we need to learn about progress because we face large problems.

The question that guides our decisions for what we report on Our World in Data is simple: What do you need to know about our world to be able to contribute positively to the world?

Progress means solving problems. This makes it necessary that anyone who wants to contribute to solutions needs to study both:

If you care about problems, you need to study progress. The progress we achieved allows us to learn how we solved problems in the past and – most fundamentally – to know that progress is possible.

If you want to make progress, you need to study problems. Every problem we identify is an opportunity to make progress. To make the world a better place, the first step is to understand the problems we face today.

Our mission follows from this understanding. Our goal with OurWorldInData.org is to give a wide overview of the big problems the world faces, show that it is possible to make progress against even very large problems and inspire people to work on these big problems to achieve the progress that is possible.

We want to contribute to a culture that seeks progress – a culture of people deciding to study the very large problems we face and taking the initiative to contribute to progress against them. We want to inform thoughtful people about the world’s large problems and the possibility of progress so that they can become the engineers, politicians, voters, donors, activists, founders, or researchers that will solve them.

Acknowledgments: I would like to thank Hannah Ritchie, Ernst van Woerden, Charlie Giattino, Matthieu Bergel, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina for reading drafts of this text and for their very helpful comments and ideas.

Our reader Tokio Nagaki kindly translated this text into Japanese: もし私たちが世界の大きな問題に関心があるならば、なぜ進歩について知る必要があるのでしょうか?

Continue reading on Our World in Data:

The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it

Besides the linked article, see Gapminder’s Ignorance Survey and Ipsos’ Perils of Perception studies for survey data on people’s perception of global problems.

The referenced data point refers to children under the age of 15 and comes from the WHO. The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation’s large-scale annual study Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimates an even higher death toll; at 400,000 child deaths due to malaria.

A list of relevant studies from several different fields:

Alice Evans (2020) – Overcoming the global despondency trap: strengthening corporate accountability in supply chains , In Review of International Political Economy , 27:3, 658-685, DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2019.1679220

Rees, J. H., & Bamberg, S. (2014). Climate protection needs societal change: Determinants of intention to participate in collective climate action. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(5), 466–473. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2032

Roser-Renouf, Connie, Maibach, E. W., Leiserowitz, A., Zhao, X. & Zhao (2014) – The genesis of climate change activism: From key beliefs to political action . In Climatic Change, 125(2), 163–178. doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1173-5

Joel Mokyr (2011) – The Enlightened Economy: Britain and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1850.

Chan, M. (2016) – Psychological antecedents and motivational models of collective action: Examining the role of perceived effectiveness in political protest participation . Social Movement Studies, 15(3), 305–321. doi:10.1080/14742837.2015.1096192

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How to solve the world's biggest problems

• climate change
• global issues
• social change
• philanthropy

100+ global problems worth solving

Of course this list is far from being complete. It’s just a tiny start.

CONTRIBUTE And you can add to this list of “global problems worth solving” on our Google Drive . Feel free to add yourself to the contributor list. Do not spam it – please. We will update this post once in a while.

(1) Building a platform that collects problems, anybody can contribute and be curated by the community.

ENVIRONMENT

(2) Inventing new material or techniques to replace plastic (3) Inventing new techniques, and materials to replace paper (4)Inventing new techniques and products, recycling any given material (5) Inventing new materials replacing plastic bottles and cups (6) Creating new ways to package food (100’s of varieties of food) environmentally friendly (7) Finding artificial, yet environmentally friendly replacement for wood to reduce deforestation (8) Inventing new motors that neither use electricity nor fuel

(9) Finding ways to augment education in conventional schools and universities with highly relevant education (10) Creating social education programs that can run in parallel to schools, universities or jobs (11) Offering classes for undergrads, how to get successful and rich (12) Providing better base education programs on political know how (13) Providing better education programs on the general concept of economies (14) Providing better education on how wars are started and how peace is achieved and maintained today (15) Creating more tangible lifelong learning concepts (16) Creating more universally applicable career guidance mechanisms or platforms (17) Creating solutions to shift from an “all learn – all work” model to a more balance model

(18) Exploring new ways to generally reduce and safe energy (19) Providing a more transparent and plausible energy consumption prediction for the scenario that most people on earth are out of poverty, living in newly developed countries (20) New ways to harvest energy from bio thermal energy sources (21) New ways to harvest solar energy (22) New ways to harvest hydro energy (23) Finding ways to transmit energy created on the moon, down to earth (24) Identifying new ways to harvest energy from unidentified sources (25) Finding all new ways to store electric energy in bigger volume and less in size and weight (26) Smart energy re-distribution for those who produce excess energy that can be provided to others

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY

(27) Lower cost reliable Internet connections (28) Independent and reliable “News & Information Publishing” organization (29) Better, social media integrated search engines (30) All new and modern operating systems (31) Fully integrated business application tools (32) Meteorology technology provider not only for weather forecasts but for everything agricultural (33) Generally available intelligent traffic lights, connected to a traffic flow system, but autonomous features (34) Low cost mini satellites to explore earth and space, provide data hubs, accessibility and more (35) Omnipresent, inexpensive and easy mobile payment system (36) Building robots for all kinds of dedicated tasks such as cleaning shoes, planting crops, cleaning windows, etc. (37) The whole range of wearable products counting, watching, recording, measuring all kinds of things underway (38) Situation dependent automatically changing materials to turn a lofty t-shirt into a rain covering shirt (39) Smart materials that change their behavior based on environmental conditions i.e, taking the carbon out of carbon dioxide and returning the dioxide back to air (40) Smart Contract development for cryptocurrency agnostic blockchain like media (41) Universal low voltage power connection system that handles everything from a single wall plug to staggering distribution (42) Creating universal ultra small IOT devices that allows any product to be programmed by a smartphone including remote controls, refrigerators, heaters, air conditioner, lights – anything. One interface for any product in the future. (43) New better zipper that do not stuck, break or derail WATER & SANITATION

(44) New ways to get to clean water (45) Better ways to turn salt water into sweet water (46) New ways to manage waste water in rural areas (47) Cheaper ways to produce sanitation products i.e. toilets (48) All new toilette models alleviating paper use (49) More efficient ways for flushing toilets than using precious water (50) New product for cleaning replacing bathtubs and showers or make their use a less used luxury (51) More water consumption sensitive products such as water cranes, showers, garden watering systems

FOOD & DIET 

(52) New ways to offer unified insights into the ingredients of food in any supermarket (53) Ways to eradicate factory farming (mass animal farming) (54) More scientifically proven and generally understood advice to a healthy diet (55) New ways to provide food portions in smaller sizes to stimulate reduction of food consumption and reduction of food waste RESEARCH, DATA & INFORMATION

(56) Finding new ways to research all the facts and sources of climate change (57) Finding new ways to deal with climate change and leverage the development so far (58) Finding ways to predict climate change more precisely for the next 50 years and provide meaningful indications for the agricultural industry (59) Better ways to organize research in general, creating more unbiased data. (60) Catalog of things that could be done with AI and inspires developer (61) An AI development system that could be used by virtually anybody (62) Research for a more rational view of the evolving powers of Artificial Intelligence (63) Creating algorithms that focus on environmental dependencies of new technologies (64) Identify new ways that help certain countries to get off of the data protection hysteria (65) New suggestions for data privacy models that give more power to the individual (66) Developing ways to deal with the general risk of eradicating life through asteroids (67) Developing scenarios to evacuate earth if needed, even though we would probably take 1,000 years to find the technical possibilities. (68) New tools and platforms to interact with governments and communities (69) New apps that cover all of the problems, allow to contribute in all kinds of ways and see reports (70) 3-D printing companies, producing unique products, spare-parts, artificial organs, and more (71) Cyber security improvements to significantly reduce or even alleviate hack attacks (72) Data ownership mechanisms, rules and technology that makes sure that personal data are controllable by its owner

(73) Providing better technology for customer experience management (74) Providing a new value system for corporate balance sheets involving employee contribution (75) Providing new ways to offer equity to highly innovative employees (76) Develop new systems that can track the degree of innovation development (77) Design new systems for customer interaction with corporations (78) Design new corporate employee education systems including lifelong learning (79) Create a fortune 100,000 leader board with indexes addressing environmental, employee and other key aspects (80) Creating all new insurance business models that provide much more contract transparency and easier to deal with (81) Online grocery stores with home delivery like a few in Germany or Switzerland (82) New media business models, disrupting the user unfriendly monopolies (83) Much easier booking systems for public transportation anywhere in the world (84) Creating systems that alleviate waiting (in line, at doctors, at shops, at bus stops….)

(85) More effective ways to deal with birth control in times where we help more people to survive (86) Starting large scale research that can only be done with tens of thousands of supporters (87) Finding better ways to deal with migration, integration and return mechanisms (88) Finding ways to replace prisons with socially effective methods of societal reintegration (89) Finding new policies to deal with people ignoring the generally accepted rules of societal coexistence (90) Finding solutions to get to a broader reach of well being for all humans (91) Developing new political concepts or new varieties of democracy that is more applicable in today’s world (92) Developing new job concepts for people who work on social or macro economic solutions to be financed (93) Developing new concepts for city creation addressing the bigger problems of today’s cities (94) Developing new and holistic ways to reduce traffic congestion in larger cities (95) Developing new logistical concepts to bring the huge amount of products directly to the citizens (96) Developing new techniques to transport the remaining waste to the designated areas without the current waste disposal chain (97) Finding new methods to alleviate corruption in government and other large organizations (98) Finding new mechanisms to make governments more accountable, providing rewards and punishment solutions based on their achievements relative to their promises

(99) New ways to provide a more balanced healthcare for the various developed nations (100) New ways to provide healthcare in the first place for developing nations (101) New ways for mental health care (102) New ways to produce cheaper medicine or secure living without medicine

This list of “global problems worth solving” will sooner or later grow much bigger. We are looking forward to your inputs.

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Top Problems in the World That Can Be Solved

Top Problems that can be Solved

The Copenhagen Consensus Center, a think tank that researches the smartest solutions to global issues, organized a panel of five distinguished economists in 2012 to set priorities for fighting the 10 top problems in the world that can be solved:

• Armed Conflict
• Chronic Disease
• Infectious Disease
• Population Growth
• Biodiversity
• Climate Change
• Hunger and Malnutrition
• Natural Disasters
• Water and Sanitation

The panel was asked to describe the best ways to advance global welfare, specifically that of developing countries. The experts then assembled a prioritized list of thirty solutions.

Solutions to the World’s Issues

The number one solution was “bundled interventions to reduce undernutrition in pre-schoolers” and addressed the challenge of hunger and education. Some other proposals high on the list were subsidies for malaria combination treatment and expanding childhood immunization coverage.

The group of experts covered topics besides health, with solutions ranging from investing in early warning systems for natural disasters to increased funding for green energy.

With this list in mind, world leaders at the U.N. Sustainable Development Summit adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Sept. 2015. On Jan. 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the eight Millennium Development Goals of 2015.

The new 17 SDGs were to:

• End poverty
• End hunger and improve nutrition and sustainable agriculture
• Promote well being for all ages
• Ensure equitable and quality education
• Achieve gender equality
• Ensure water and sanitation for all
• Ensure access to modern energy for all
• Promote sustainable economic growth and productive employment
• Build resilient and innovative infrastructure
• Reduce inequality
• Make settlements safe, resilient and sustainable
• Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Take urgent action to combat climate change
• Conserve and sustainably use Earth’s water
• Promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and forests, and halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss
• Promote peaceful societies, provide access to justice and build effective, accountable institutions
• Implement and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

A New Set of Problems

80,000 Hours, an independent nonprofit organization that researches how graduates can make the biggest difference possible with their careers, came up with another list defining problems in the world that can be solved. Drawing from research from groups such as the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute and the Copenhagen Consensus Center, 80,000 Hours created a framework to rate global issues.

The organization based its scoring on how solving the problem would reduce the risk of extinction , raise the global economic output, increase the income among the world’s poorest 2 billion people and save years of healthy life. It also used factors like the amount of good done compared to the percent of the problem solved and the number of resources required.

Risks from artificial intelligence topped 80,000 Hours’ list  out of 11. Also on the list were biosecurity, developing world health and climate change. Other issues 80,000 Hours has yet to rate include science policy and infrastructure, cheap green energy and promoting human rights. The group indicates that improving health would be more beneficial than topics like empowering the poor and education.

Due to how differently each solution overlaps with others there are various ways to rank a list of top problems in the world that can be solved. Thankfully, experts are doing their best to target issues to focus on and world leaders are taking calculated steps to implement solutions to such issues.

– Connie Loo

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Part 5: The world’s biggest problems and why they’re not what first comes to mind

By Benjamin Todd · Last updated May 2023 · First published March 2017

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On this page:

• 1 Why issues facing rich countries aren't always the most important — and why charity shouldn't always begin at home
• 2 Global health: a problem where you could really make progress
• 3 Why focusing on future generations might be even more effective than tackling global health
• 4.1 Biorisk: the threat from future disease
• 4.2 Preventing an AI-related catastrophe
• 5.1 Global priorities research
• 5.2 Broad interventions, such as improved politics
• 5.3 Capacity building and promoting effective altruism
• 6 How to work out which problems you should focus on
• 7 Apply this to your own career

We’ve spent much of the last 10+ years trying to answer a simple question: what are the world’s biggest and most neglected problems?

We wanted to have a positive impact with our careers, and so we set out to discover where our efforts would be most effective.

Our analysis suggests that choosing the right problem could increase your impact by over 100 times, which would make it the most important driver of your impact.

Here, we give a summary of what we’ve learned. Read on to hear why ending diarrhoea might save as many lives as world peace, why artificial intelligence might be an even bigger deal, and what to do in your own career to make the most urgent changes happen.

In short, the most pressing problems are those where people can have the greatest impact by working on them. As we explained in the previous article , this means problems that are not only big, but also neglected and solvable . The more neglected and solvable, the further extra effort will go. And this means they’re not the problems that first come to mind.

If you just want to see what we think the answer is, go to our list of the world’s most pressing problems .

Reading time: 25 minutes.

Table of Contents

• 1 Why issues facing rich countries aren’t always the most important — and why charity shouldn’t always begin at home
• 8 Want to come back later?: Get the guide as a free book

Why issues facing rich countries aren’t always the most important — and why charity shouldn’t always begin at home

Most people who want to do good focus on issues in their home country. In rich countries, this often means issues like homelessness, inner-city education, and unemployment. But are these the most urgent issues?

In the US, only 5% of charitable donations are spent on international causes. 1 The most popular careers for talented graduates who want to do good are teaching and health, which together receive around 40% of graduates, and mainly involve helping people in the US. 2

There are some good reasons to focus on helping your own country — you know more about the issues, and you might feel you have special obligations to it. However, back in 2009, we encountered the following series of facts. They led us to think that the most urgent problems are not local, but rather related to poverty in the world’s poorest countries — especially efforts within health, such as fighting malaria and parasitic worms. (And as we’ll come onto later, we now think there are even more pressing issues than global poverty — in particular, catastrophic risks that could affect the whole world and future.)

Why do we say the most urgent problems aren’t local? Well, here’s a pretty staggering chart we came across in our research.

It’s the distribution of world income that we saw in an earlier article .

Even someone living on the US poverty line of $14,580 per year (as of 2023) is richer than about 85% of the world’s population , and about 20 times wealthier than the world’s poorest 700 million, who mostly live in Central America, Africa, and South Asia on under $800 per year. These figures are already adjusted for the fact that money goes further in poor countries (purchasing power parity). 4

As we also saw earlier, the poorer you are, the bigger difference extra money makes to your welfare . Based on this research, because poorer people in Africa are 20 times poorer, we’d expect resources to go about 20 times further in helping them.

There are also only about 40 million people living in relative poverty in the US, about 6% as many as the 700 million in extreme global poverty. 5

There are also far more resources dedicated to helping this smaller number of people. Overseas development aid from the world’s developed countries is, in total, only about $200 billion per year, compared to $1.7 trillion spent on welfare in the US alone. 6

Finally, as we saw earlier , a significant fraction of US social interventions probably don’t work. This is because problems facing the poor in rich countries are complex and hard to solve. Moreover, even the most evidence-backed interventions are expensive and have modest effects .

The same comparison holds for other rich countries, such as the UK, Australia, Canada, and the EU. (Though if you live in a low-income country, then it may well be best to focus on issues there.)

All this isn’t to deny that the poor in rich countries have very tough lives, perhaps even worse in some respects than those in the developing world. Rather, the issue is that there are far fewer of them, and they’re harder to help.

So if you’re not focusing on issues in your home country, what should you focus on?

Global health: a problem where you could really make progress

Earlier we told the story of Dr Nalin, who helped to develop oral rehydration therapy as a treatment for diarrhoea.

What if we were to tell you that, over the second half of the 20th century, efforts by Dr Nalin and others did as much to save lives as achieving world peace over the same period would have done?

The number of deaths each year due to diarrhoea have fallen by 3 million over the last five decades due to advances like oral rehydration therapy.

Meanwhile, all wars and political famines killed about 2 million people per year over the second half of the 20th century. 7

And we’ve had similar victories over other infectious diseases.

The global fight against disease is one of humanity’s greatest achievements, but it’s also an ongoing battle that you can contribute to with your career.

A large fraction of these gains were driven by humanitarian aid, such as the campaign to eradicate smallpox. 7 In fact, although many experts in economics think much international aid hasn’t been effective , even the most sceptical agree there’s an exception: global health.

For instance, William Easterly, author of The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good , wrote:

Put the focus back where it belongs: get the poorest people in the world such obvious goods as the vaccines, the antibiotics, the food supplements, the improved seeds, the fertilizer, the roads…. This is not making the poor dependent on handouts; it is giving the poorest people the health, nutrition, education, and other inputs that raise the payoff to their own efforts to better their lives.

Within health, where to focus? An economist at the World Bank sent us this data, which also amazed us.

This is a list of health treatments, such as providing tuberculosis medicine or surgeries, ranked by how much health they produce per dollar, as measured in rigorous randomised controlled trials . Health is measured in a standard unit used by health economists, called the “ quality-adjusted life year .”

The first point is that all these treatments are effective. Essentially all of them would be funded in countries like the US and UK. People in poor countries, however, routinely die from diseases that would certainly have been treated if they’d happened to have been born somewhere else.

Even more surprising, however, is that the top interventions are far better than the average, as shown by the spike on the right. The top interventions, like vaccines, have been shown to have significant benefits, but are also extremely cheap. The top intervention is over 10 times more cost-effective than the average, and 15,000 times more than the worst. 8 This means if you were working at a health charity focused on one of the top interventions, you’d expect to have 10 times as much impact compared to a randomly selected one.

This study isn’t perfect — there were mistakes in the analysis affecting the top results (and that’s what you’d expect due to regression to the mean ) — but the main point is solid: the best health interventions are many times more effective than the average.

So how much more impact might you make with your career by switching your focus to global health?

Because, as we saw in the first chart, the world’s poorest people are over 20 times poorer than the poor in rich countries, resources go about 20 times as far in helping them (read about why here ). 9

Then, if we focus on health, there are cheap, effective interventions that everyone agrees are worth doing. We can use the research in the second chart to pick the very best interventions, letting us have perhaps five times as much impact again. 10 In total, this makes for a 100-fold difference in impact. 11

Does this check out? The UK’s National Health Service and many US government agencies are willing to spend over $30,000 to give someone an extra year of healthy life. 12 This is a fantastic use of resources by ordinary standards.

However, research by GiveWell has found that it’s possible to give an infant a year of healthy life by donating around $100 to one of the most cost-effective global health charities, such as Against Malaria Foundation. This is about 0.33% as much. 13 This suggests that, at least in terms of improving health, one career working somewhere like AMF might achieve as much as 300 careers focused on one typical way of doing good in a rich country. (Though our best guess is that a more rigorous and comprehensive comparison would find a somewhat smaller difference. 14 )

It’s hard for us to grasp such big differences in scale, but that would mean that one year of (equally skilled) effort towards the best treatments within global health could have as much impact as what would have taken others 100 years working on typical rich country issues.

These discoveries caused many of us at 80,000 Hours to start giving at least 10% of our incomes to effective global health charities . No matter which job we ended up in, these donations would enable us to make a significant difference. In fact, if the 100-fold figure is correct, a 10% donation would be equivalent to donating 1,000% of our income to charities focused on poverty in rich countries.

See more detail on how to contribute to global health in our full profile .

However, everything we learned about global health raised many more questions. If it’s possible to have 10 or 100 times more impact with just a little research, maybe there are even better areas to discover?

We considered lots of avenues to help the global poor, like trade reform , promoting migration , crop yield research , and biomedical research .

To go in a very different direction, we also seriously considered working to end factory farming . The idea — in brief — is that the interests of animals get very little protection by our current economic and political systems, but there are huge numbers of them: around 100 billion animals die every year in factory farms. For example, we helped to found Animal Charity Evaluators , which does research into how to most effectively improve animal welfare. We still think factory farming is an urgent problem, as we explain in our full profile . But in the end, we decided to focus on something else.

Why focusing on future generations might be even more effective than tackling global health

Which would you choose from these two options?

• Prevent one person from suffering next year.
• Prevent 100 people from suffering (the same amount) 100 years from now.

Most people choose the second option. It’s a crude example, but it suggests that they value future generations .

If people didn’t want to leave a legacy to future generations, it would be hard to understand why we invest so much in science, create art, and preserve the wilderness.

We would certainly choose the second option. And if you value future generations, then there are powerful arguments that helping them should be your focus. We were first exposed to these by researchers at the University of Oxford’s (modestly named) Future of Humanity Institute.

So, what’s the reasoning?

First, future generations matter, but they can’t vote, they can’t buy things, and they can’t stand up for their interests. This means our system neglects them. You can see this in the global failure to come to an international agreement to tackle climate change that actually works.

Second, their plight is abstract. We’re reminded of issues like global poverty and factory farming far more often. But we can’t so easily visualise suffering that will happen in the future. Future generations rely more on our goodwill, and even that is hard to muster.

Third, there will probably be many more people alive in the future than there are today. The Earth will remain habitable for at least hundreds of millions of years. 15 We may die out long before that point, but if there’s a chance of making it, then many more people will live in the future than are alive today.

To use some hypothetical figures: if each generation lasts for 100 years, then over 100 million years there could be one million future generations. 16

This is such a big number that any problem that affects future generations potentially has a far greater scale than one that only affects the present — it could affect one million times more people, and all the art, science, culture, and wellbeing that will entail. So problems that affect future generations are potentially the largest in scale and the most neglected.

What’s more, because the future could be long and the universe is so vast, almost no matter what you value, there could be far more of what matters in the future.

This suggests that we have much greater reason than people usually realise to help the future — and not just the near future but also the very long-run future — go well. (We cover these ideas in more depth in a separate article .)

But can we actually help future generations, or improve the long term? Perhaps the problems that affect the future are big and neglected, but not solvable?

One way to help future generations: avert neglected existential risks

In the summer of 2013, Barack Obama referred to climate change as “the global threat of our time.” He’s not alone in this opinion. When many people think of the biggest problems facing future generations, climate change is often the first to come to mind.

One reason for that is that many fear that climate change could lead to a catastrophic civilisational collapse — and could even lead to the end of the human species. 17

We think this thought is, to some extent, on the right track. The most powerful way we can help future generations is, we think, to prevent a catastrophe that could end advanced civilisation, or even prevent any future generations from existing. If civilisation survives, we’ll have a chance to later solve problems like poverty and disease; while anything that poses a truly existential threat will prevent any such progress. (We argue for the importance of reducing existential risks elsewhere.)

However, climate change is also widely acknowledged as a major problem (conspiracy theorists aside), and receives tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars of investment. Our guess is also that there are issues that pose much greater risks of ending civilisation.

So while we think tackling climate change is an important way to help future generations, we think it’s likely even higher impact for many to focus on more neglected and more existentially dangerous issues.

(You can read more about the risk from climate change in our full profile .)

Biorisk: the threat from future disease

In 2006, The Guardian ordered segments of smallpox DNA via mail. If assembled into a complete strand and transmitted to 10 people, a study estimated it could infect up to 2.2 million people in 180 days — potentially killing 660,000 — if authorities did not respond quickly with vaccinations and quarantines. 18

We first wrote about the risks posed by catastrophic pandemics back in 2016 . Seven years later, and three years after the emergence of COVID-19, we’re still concerned.

COVID-19 disrupted the world and has, so far, killed over 10 million people . But it’s easy to imagine scenarios far worse.

In the future, we might face diseases even deadlier than COVID-19 or smallpox — whether through natural evolution, or created through bioengineering (the technology for which is becoming cheaper and more accessible every year).

In our eyes, the chance of a pandemic that kills over 100 million people over the next century seems similar to and likely greater than the risk of nuclear war or runaway climate change. So it poses a threat that’s at least similar in magnitude to both the present generation and future generations.

But risks from pandemics are, even now, far more neglected than either of these. We estimate that over $600 billion is spent annually on efforts to fight climate change, compared to $1–$10 billion towards biosecurity aimed at addressing the worst-case pandemics .

Moreover, there are some ways the risks from pandemics could be even greater. It’s very difficult to see how nuclear war or climate change could kill literally everyone , and permanently end civilisation — but bioweapons with this power seem very much within the realm of possibility, if given enough time.

At the same time, there’s plenty of relatively straightforward things that could be done to improve biosecurity, such as improving regulation of labs, building bigger stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE), and developing cheap diagnostics to detect new diseases quickly. Overall, we think biosecurity is likely more pressing than climate change. We currently think that biosecurity is one of the world’s most pressing problems.

Read more about how to contribute to biosecurity in our full profile .

But there are issues that might be even more important, and seem to be even more neglected.

Preventing an AI-related catastrophe

Around 1800, civilisation underwent one of the most profound shifts in human history: the Industrial Revolution. 19

Looking forward, what might be the next transition of this scale — the next pivotal event in history that shapes what happens to all future generations? If we could identify such a transition, that may well be the most important area in which to work.

One candidate is bioengineering — the ability to fundamentally redesign human beings — as discussed, for example, by Yuval Noah Harari in Sapiens .

But we think there’s an issue that’s even more neglected, and is developing far more rapidly: artificial intelligence.

Billions of dollars are spent trying to make artificial intelligence more powerful, but hardly any effort is devoted to making sure that those added capabilities are implemented safely and for the benefit of humanity.

This matters for two main reasons.

First, powerful AI systems have the potential to be misused. For instance, they might be used to develop dangerous new technology , such as new and more powerful weapons.

Second, there is a risk of accidents when powerful new AI systems are deployed. This is especially pressing due to the “alignment problem.” This is a complex topic, so if you want to explore it properly, we recommend reading our full problem profile on artificial intelligence . But here’s a quick introduction.

In the 1980s, chess was held up as an example of something a machine could never do. But in 1997, world chess champion Garry Kasparov was defeated by the computer program Deep Blue. Since then, computers have become far better at chess than humans.

In 2004, two experts in artificial intelligence used truck driving as an example of a job that would be really hard to automate. But today, self-driving cars are already on the road. 20

In August 2021, a team of expert forecasters predicted that it would take five years for a computer to be able to solve high school competition–level maths problems . Less than a year later, Google built an AI that could do just that .

At the end of 2022, ChatGPT became the fastest growing web platform ever .

Some problems are more pressing than others, but most are pretty good.

But instead, we’ve found that it looks more like this.

Some problems are far higher impact than others, because they can differ by 10 or 100 times in terms of how big, neglected, and solvable they are, as well as your degree of personal fit. 25 So getting this decision right could mean you achieve over 100 times as much with your career.

If there’s one lesson we draw from all we’ve covered, it’s this: if you want to do good in the world, it’s worth at some point really taking the time to learn about different global problems, and how you might contribute to them. It takes time, and there’s a lot to learn, but it’s hard to imagine anything more interesting, or more important.

Apply this to your own career

You don’t need to figure out which global problems you want to focus on right at the start of your career. Early on, the top priority is to explore to figure out what you’re good at, and to build valuable skills. It’s common to not directly tackle the problems you think are most pressing for many years.

However, it is useful to at least have a rough idea of which problems you’d like to work on in the future, since this can greatly affect which kinds of skills seem most useful to build. For instance, if you guess that reducing risks from AI is in your shortlist, that could suggest gaining some pretty different skills and experience than you would for global health (though some skills are useful in both, such as management). So, even if you’re right at the start of your career, we’d suggest spending at least a couple of days thinking about this question.

Here’s an exercise:

• Using the resources above, write down the three global problems that you think most need additional people working on them. These will depend on your values and empirical assumptions.

Don’t worry too much about your personal fit — while it’s an important consideration, your fit for a role can be difficult to assess, so we’ve got a whole article on it later in the guide. For now, just focus on getting the best picture of what the world needs.

• What are you most uncertain about with respect to your list? How might you learn more about those questions? (For example: Is there something you could read? Someone you could talk to?)

As a reminder, you can see a list of all the problem areas we’ve reviewed here . Click through to the individual profiles to learn more about each issue. You can also view our topics list to see everything we’ve produced about a certain issue.

If you’d like to dive much more deeply into comparing global problems, see the relevant articles in our advanced series .

This list of problems is just a starting point. The next step is to find concrete career options that will make a difference within the area (which we cover in the next article), then to find an option with excellent personal fit (which we also cover later ).

Read next: Part 6: Which jobs help people the most?

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Notes and references

In 2021, Americans gave $484.85 billion to charity, a 4.0% increase over 2020. Adjusted for inflation, total giving remained relatively flat, with -0.7% growth.

Archived link , retrieved 11-January-2023 ↩

• 21% of employed graduates are in health (this remains at 21% at 5 years and at 10 years after graduating)
• 17% of employed graduates are in education (this rises to 19% at 5 years and 21% at 10 years after graduating)
• 5% of employed graduates are in public administration (this rises to 6% at 5 years and 7% at 10 years after graduating).

Note that a large fraction of government spending goes into education and health, so those who go into government are also contributing to these areas.

We downloaded the raw data from the Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes page of the US Census Bureau website and aggregated these figures ourselves. See all the aggregated data here .

The US Census Bureau notes:

The PSEO are made possible through data sharing partnerships between universities, university systems, State Departments of Education, State Labor Market Information offices, and the U.S. Census Bureau. PSEO data are available for post-secondary institutions whose transcript data have been made available to the Census Bureau through a data-sharing agreement.

We’d guess that a high enough proportion of colleges are involved for these figures to be roughly right, but there may be some systematic bias (e.g., state colleges may be more likely to share data than private colleges). ↩

Briefly, the data for percentiles 1 to 79 were taken from PovcalNet : the online tool for poverty measurement developed by the Development Research Group of the World Bank. Note that this is in fact a measure of consumption , which closely tracks income and is the standard way of tracking the wealth of people towards the lower part of the distribution. The data for income percentiles 80 to 99 were provided by Branko Milanović in private correspondence. ↩

Archived link , retrieved 10-February-2023. ↩

The official poverty rate in 2021 was 11.6 percent, with 37.9 million people in poverty.

The US poverty threshold varies depending on the size of the household . For a single person, the threshold in 2022 was $13,950 . ↩

This OECD report finds total ODA (overseas development assistance) spending of $178.9 billion in 2021. Note official ODA only includes spending by the 31 members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) (roughly, European and North American countries, the EU, Japan, and South Korea).

Archived PDF , retrieved 23-February-2023.

The OECD estimate of ODA-like flows from key providers of development cooperation that do not report to the OECD-DAC was $4 billion in 2020.

They note that:

Scholars have estimated that China’s development aid is much larger [than the reported USD 3.2 billion in 2019 and USD 2.9 billion in 2020], standing at USD 5.9 billion in 2018 (see Kitano and Miyabayashi ) or as high as USD 7.9 billion if one includes preferential buyers credits (see Kitano 2019). China’s development co-operation is estimated to have decreased due to expenditure cuts to deal with COVID-19 ( Kitano and Miyabayashi ).

The OECD measure of Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD ), which also includes loans, investments, and spending by many, but not all, other countries (including ‘South-South’ spending by developing countries in other developing countries) came to a total of $434 billion in 2021.

There is also international philanthropy, but we don’t think adding it would more than double the figure. The US is the largest source of philanthropic funding at $400–$500 billion, but only a few percent goes to international causes. A Giving US report estimated that US giving to “international affairs” was only $27 billion in 2021.

Archived link , retrieved 11-January-2023.

Moreover, if we were to include international philanthropy, we’d need to include philanthropic spending on poor people in the US.

Estimates of welfare spending vary depending on exactly what is included. Total spending also varies from year to year. We used a representative figure from usgovernmentspending.com

In FY 2022 total US government spending on welfare — federal, state, and local — was “guesstimated” to be $1,662 billion, including $792 billion for Medicaid, and $869 billion in other welfare.

Archived link , retrieved 20-January-2023. ↩

All wars, democides, and politically motivated famines killed an estimated 160 million to 240 million people during the 20th century, or an average of 1.6 million to 2.4 million per year.

International humanitarian aid has contributed substantially to reductions in the number of annual deaths from disease. $500 million of the $1.5 billion spent on eliminating smallpox came from international funders.

Aid Works on Average , by Toby Ord, Slideshare , retrieved 27-Febuary-2017. Toby Ord is an advisor to 80,000 Hours. ↩

(In the DCP2) in total, the interventions are spread over more than four orders of magnitude, ranging from 0.02 to 300 DALYs per $1,000, with a median of 5. Thus, moving money from the least effective intervention to the most effective would produce about 15,000 times the benefit, and even moving it from the median intervention to the most effective would produce about 60 times the benefit.

In private correspondence, Dr Ord added that the mean intervention had an effectiveness of 24 DALYs averted per $1,000. Note that a DALY is a “disability-adjusted life year” i.e. a year of life lost to ill health — the opposite of a “quality-adjusted life year.”

If you selected an intervention at random, then on average you’d pick something with the mean effectiveness. Most of the interventions are worse than the mean, but if you picked randomly you’d have a small chance of landing on the top one. Read more about how much solutions differ in effectiveness . ↩

• One potential complication is that making poor US or UK citizens better off could eventually have spillover benefits for the global poor, as briefly discussed here , which would cap the degree of difference. However, I expect the spillover is less than 1/20, so this consideration doesn’t have much effect on the 20-fold ratio. ↩
• In 2018, GiveWell estimated that it cost $900 to do an amount of good equivalent to averting the death of an individual under five through the most effective global health intervention: Deworm the World. GiveWell estimates that it costs $11,300 to do an equivalent amount of good by giving cash to the global poor through donating to GiveDirectly. This would imply that the best global health interventions are 13 times more effective than giving cash to the global poor. To be conservative, we assume that global health interventions are only five times more effective. GiveWell’s analysis is available here . ↩
• Though if you could find a similarly leveraged way to do good in a rich country, that would bring the ratio back to more like 20 times. The 100-fold comparison is with a typical rich country social intervention. ↩

NICE health technology evaluations: the manual, 2022. Archived link ↩

• AMF and Population Ethics by GiveWell. ↩

For instance, making the US wealthier has spillover benefits to the developing world, such as increased foreign aid and improved technology. Very roughly, this might reduce the size of the difference by a factor of three .

If we took into account further corrections, the difference would probably shrink still further . Nevertheless, if we made an all-considered comparison in terms of what most benefits the present generation, we’d still expect investing in global health to be over 20 times more effective than randomly selected US social interventions. ↩

Two new modeling studies find that the gradually brightening sun won’t vaporize our planet’s water for at least another 1 billion to 1.5 billion years—hundreds of millions of years later than a slightly older model had forecast.

Archived link , retrieved 4-March-2017 ↩

• It’s possible that future generations would live for longer than 100 years. This would probably reduce the number of future generations, but wouldn’t necessarily decrease the number of future people. ↩

Three in four Americans think climate change will eventually result in the extinction of humanity, according to new research. A new survey of 2,000 Americans aiming to reveal just how much “climate anxiety” people carry found that nearly half of Americans think climate change will result in the end of the world within the next 200 years. Not only that, but one in five millennials think climate change will trigger the end of the world in their lifetime. ↩

The DNA sequence of smallpox, as well as other potentially dangerous pathogens such as polio virus and 1918 flu are freely available in online public databases. So to build a virus from scratch, a terrorist would simply order consecutive lengths of DNA along the sequence and glue them together in the correct order. This is beyond the skills and equipment of the kitchen chemist, but could be achieved by a well-funded terrorist with access to a basic lab and PhD-level personnel. One study estimated that because most people on the planet have no resistance to the extinct virus, an initial release which infected just 10 people would spread to 2.2 million people in 180 days.

Archived link , retrieved 27-Febuary-2017 ↩

• Graph produced from Maddison, Angus (2007): Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD. Essays in Macro-Economic History , Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-922721-1, p. 379, table A.4. ↩

The New Division of Labor by Frank Levy and Richard Murnane (2004). Chapter 2 is titled “Why People Still Matter.” Archived link , retrieved 27-Febuary-2017 ↩

Researchers were asked about “high-level machine intelligence” (HLMI). This was defined as:

When unaided machines can accomplish every task better and more cheaply than human workers. Ignore aspects of tasks for which being a human is intrinsically advantageous, e.g. being accepted as a jury member. Think feasibility, not adoption.

Two other surveys, Zhang et al. (2022) , conducted in 2019, and Grace et al. (2018) , conducted in 2016, found similar results.

For more information on these surveys, including information on their accuracy, see our full problem profile on artificial intelligence . ↩

Over 100,000 western lowland gorillas are thought to exist in the wild, with 4,000 in zoos; eastern lowland gorillas have a population of under 5,000 in the wild and 24 in zoos. Mountain gorillas are the most severely endangered, with an estimated population of about 880 left in the wild and none in zoos.

In May 2023, Geoffrey Hinton resigned from his position at Google :

Google computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, who has made significant contributions to the development of artificial intelligence, has left the technology giant to warn the world of the “existential risk” posed by AI systems to humans. ↩

• Giving What We Can, like 80,000 Hours, is a project of the Effective Ventures group — the umbrella term for Effective Ventures Foundation and Effective Ventures Foundation USA, Inc., which are two separate legal entities that work together. ↩
• Because the three factors multiply together, if each can vary by a factor of 100, the overall variation could be up to six orders of magnitude. In practice, the factors anti-correlate, so it’s not quite as large as this, and there are other reasons for modesty. See our advanced series article on how much your choice of problem area matters . ↩

Top 20 Current Global Issues We Must Address

What are the most pressing issues in the world today? What will demand the most attention in the next 5, 10, and 20+ years? In this article, which frequently refers to the World Economic Forum’s 17th Edition of the Global Risks Report, we’ll highlight 20 current global issues we must address, including issues related to climate change, COVID-19, social rights, and more. While it’s hardly a comprehensive discussion, it’s a solid introduction to the kinds of concerns facing our world today.

#1. Poverty

In fall 2022, the World Bank will update the International Poverty Line from $1.90 to $2.15. This means anyone living on less than $2.15 is in “extreme poverty.” Why the change? Increases in the costs of food, clothing, and shelter between 2011-2017 make the “real value of $2.15 in 2017 prices equal to $1.90 in 2011 prices. As for the World Bank’s goal to reduce extreme poverty to 3% or less by 2030, the pandemic has made it even harder. Extreme poverty isn’t the only poverty we have to contend with. 62% of the global population lives on less than $10/day. While there’s been progress over the years, the end of poverty is still far off.

Learn more about tackling poverty with an online course: Poverty & Population: How Demographics Shape Policy (Columbia University)

#2. Climate change

The IPCC released its sixth report in 2022. In its summary for policy-makers, the report’s authors outlined a series of near-term, mid-term, and long-term risks. If global warming reaches 1.5°C in the near term (2021-2040), it would cause “unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards,” as well as “multiple risks to ecosystems and humans.” In the long term, climate change will present major health issues, premature deaths, risks to cities and settlements , and other dangers. Mitigation is desperately needed – and fast. Because of climate change ’s connection to other issues on this list, it’s one of the most serious challenges facing humanity.

Learn more about climate change with an online course: Science and Engineering of Climate Change (EDHEC Business School)

#3. Food insecurity

According to the 2022 Global Report on Food Crises , which is produced by the Global Network against Food Crises, the number of people in crisis or worse is the highest it’s been in the six years since the report has existed. Close to 193 million people were experiencing acute food insecurity in 2021, which is an increase of almost 40 million since 2020. This represents a staggering 80% increase since 2016. Causes include “economic shocks,” like an increase in global food prices. Domestic food price inflation in low-income countries also rose a lot. “Weather-related disasters” are also a big driver. For 15.7 million people in 15 countries, it was the primary driver of acute food insecurity.

Learn more about food insecurity with an online course: Feeding the World (University of Pennsylvania)

#4. Refugee rights

According to UNHCR, the war in Ukraine sparked the fastest-growing refugee crisis since WWII. Almost 6 million (as of May 10, 2022) people have fled. The UNCHR’s Refugee Brief , which compiles the week’s biggest refugee stories, has recently described situations in places like Somalia, where thousands of people were displaced due to severe drought. Between January and mid-April, more than 36,000 refugees from Nigeria, Mali, and Burkina Faso arrived in Niger. These are only a few examples of the refugee crises, which endangers already marginalized groups – like women and children – and puts them at an increased risk of trafficking , violence, and death.

Learn more about refugee rights with an online course: Refugees in the 21st Century (University of London)

#5. COVID-19

The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2022. It will continue to be a major issue for the world. The WEF’s Global Risks Report 2022 discusses COVID’s effects at length , including major economic recovery disparities and social erosion. According to a January 2022 article from NPR , there are also issues with vaccinations as many countries continue to have trouble getting doses. Distribution, vaccine hesitancy, healthcare systems, and other problems also factor into low vaccination rates. While we may never know the exact impact, the WHO estimates that between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021, there were around 14.9 million excess deaths linked to COVID-19.

Learn more about the impact of COVID-19 with an online course: Life After COVID-19: Get Ready for our Post-Pandemic Future (Institute for the Future)

#6. Future pandemic preparation and response

COVID-19 taught the world the importance of prepardeness. In a Harvard blog , Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, outlined the lessons the world should take to heart. The first: science has to guide policy. The politicization of the pandemic led to a lot of unnecessary damage. Another lesson is that science must pair with equity or it can actually make inequalities worse. This is obvious when looking at how low-income countries struggled to get the vaccines while wealthier countries stocked up. More resilient healthcare systems are also a must, as well as more coherent, global plans on how to respond. The world must also invest in research on contagious diseases, zoonotic diseases, the effectiveness of outbreak responses, and more.

Learn more about future pandemic response with an online course: Pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response (Politecnico di Milano)

#7. Healthcare

The healthcare industry has experienced major shifts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Economic Forum, there’s been new investments and innovations, especially from the technology and telehealth sectors. In 2021, $44 billion was spent on health innovation. The world will be seeing the effects of these innovations for years to come, though equity will no doubt be a major issue. In places like the United States, the pandemic also reaffirmed how broken healthcare systems can be. In an MIT News blog , Andrea Campbell, a professor of political science, says the pandemic revealed a “dire need” for investments in public-health infrastructure, as well as a need to expand healthcare access and insurance coverage.

Learn more about health inequity issues with an online course: Addressing Racial Health Inequity in Healthcare (University of Michigan)

#8. Mental health

Globally, almost 1 billion people have some form of mental disorder. The pandemic made the world’s mental health worse. According to a scientific brief from the WHO , there’s been a 25% increase in anxiety and depression worldwide. Causes include social isolation, fear of sickness, grief, and financial anxieties. Health workers were also severely impacted, as well as young women and girls. The brief also highlights how the pandemic disrupted many mental health services, including services for substance abuse. Countries need to ensure access to mental health services as part of their COVID-19 recovery plans and beyond. It’s an economic decision, as well. The Lancet states that anxiety and depression alone cost the global economy around $1 trillion a year.

Learn more about mental health with an online course: The Science of Well-Being (Yale University)

#9. Disability rights

According to the WHO , over 1 billion people have some form of disability. Half can’t afford healthcare. They’re also more likely to live in poverty than those without a disability, have poorer health outcomes, and have less access to work and education opportunities. Human Rights Watch lists other discriminations disabled people face, such as an increased risk of violence. There’s been progress regarding disability rights, but many countries lack strong protections. The world still has a long way to go to ensure equality for those with disabilities.

Learn more about disability rights with an online courses: Disability Awareness and Support (University of Pittsburgh)

#10. LGBTQ+ rights

Members of the LGBTQ+ community face discrimination in many forms. According to Amnesty International , discrimination can target sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics. Even in more progressive countries like the United States, people face violence and discrimination. According to the Human Rights Campaign, more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were proposed in 2022. At least a dozen states are considering legislation that forbids schools from discussing or using a curriculum that covers sexual orientation and gender identity. Considering the United States’ influence in the world, this attack on LGBTQ+ rights will likely have consequences that need to be addressed.

Learn more about LGBTQ+ issues with an online courses .

#11. Reproductive justice

Reproductive justice – which encompasses more than just abortion rights – is threatened by legislation, lack of funding, lack of education, and restricted healthcare access. In most places, wealth is a big determinant of whether a person can access reproductive services. It’s better in some places than others, but as we’ve seen with other issues on this list, even “progressive” countries like the United States are experiencing major shifts. In June 2022, the Supreme Court is expected to overrule Roe v. Wade , a milestone court case that protected a pregnant woman’s right to abortion. The impact would be immediate and will likely influence other countries.

Learn more about reproductive justice and women’s rights: International Women’s Health and Human Rights (Stanford University)

#12. Children’s rights

Children are a very vulnerable group. In 2019, around 5.2 million children under five from mostly preventable and treatable causes. 2.4 million were newborns under 28 days old. Leading causes include preterm birth complications, pneumonia, and malaria. According to UNICEF, the climate crisis also represents a severe threat to kids. Around 1 billion kids live in “extremely high-risk countries” that are hit by the worst effects of climate change. 920 kids have trouble accessing clean water and 600 million are exposed to vector-borne diseases like malaria. Child labor also remains an issue. At the beginning of 2020, around 160 million were forced into labor while COVID-19 put 9 million more kids at risk. That’s almost 1 in 10 children globally. Almost half are in dangerous environments. As is often the case, the other issues on this list – climate change, poverty, COVID, gender equality, etc – factor into children’s rights.

Learn more about children’s rights: Children’s Human Rights – An Interdisciplinary Introduction (University of Geneva)

#13. Gender equality

Global gender equality has gradually improved over the years, but data from the 2021 Global Gender Report shows that the end of the global gender gap is still 135 years away. The pandemic played a huge role in reversing positive trends as women were hit harder financially. According to Oxfam , women experienced a 5% job loss while men experienced 3.9%. That means women lost about $800 million in 2020. This is a low estimate since it doesn’t count the informal economy, which includes millions of women. Women are also more likely to live in poverty, more affected by gender-based violence, and more affected by climate change.

Learn more about gender equality: Gender Analytics: Gender Equity through Inclusive Design (University of Toronto)

#14. Cybersecurity

The WEF’s Global Risks Report 2022 (page 9) listed cybersecurity vulnerabilities as a concern. The reason is rapid digitalization, which was triggered in part by COVID-19. Many “advanced economies” are now at a higher risk for cyberattacks. GRPS respondents identified cybersecurity failure as a critical short-term risk. In 2020, malware and ransomware attacks went up by 358% and 435%. There are a few reasons for this, including better (and easier) attack methods and poor governance. Cyberattacks have a swath of serious consequences and erode public trust. As countries become more dependent on digitalization, their cybersecurity needs to keep up.

Learn more about cybersecurity: IBM Cybersecurity Analyst Professional Certificate (IBM)

#15. Disinformation

Rapid digitalization comes with many issues, including the lightning-fast spread of disinformation. The WEF report describes deepfakes, an accessible AI technology, and its potential to sway elections and other political outcomes. Disinformation doesn’t need to be sophisticated to be successful, however. Through social media posts and videos, twelve anti-vax activists were responsible for almost ⅔ of all anti-vaccine content on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Their content flooded the internet with the type of harmful, fear-mongering disinformation that played a significant role in vaccine hesitancy and political radicalization. Because disinformation travels faster online than the truth, it’s a global issue that should be addressed.

Learn more about tackling disinformation: Communicating Trustworthy Information in the Digital World (University of Rotterdam)

#16. Freedom of the press

According to the Varieties of Democracy Institute (as reported in The Economist ), about 85% of people live in a country where press freedom has gone down in the past 5 years. After peaking at .65 in the early 2000s and 2011, the global average dropped to .49 in 2021. Major countries like China, India, Russia, Brazil, and Turkey saw significant declines. Journalists and news organizations face threats like violence, imprisonment, lack of funding, and coordinated online attacks and harassment. A free press is essential to a functioning democracy. Without press freedom, all human rights are at risk.

Learn more about freedom of expression: Human Rights for Open Societies (Utrecht University)

#17. Debt crises

In the WEF Global Risks Report (page 7), respondents named debt crises as one of the most pressing issues over the next decade, though respondents believe they will become most serious in just 3-5 years. COVID-19 is a big reason why. Government stimulus was necessary, but many countries are now left with debt burdens. For corporate and public finances in large economies, debt burdens can lead to defaults, bankruptcies, insolvency, and more. This is a far-reaching issue as it affects budgets for areas like healthcare and green energy.

Learn more about the debt: Finance for everyone – Debt (McMaster University)

#18. Corruption

Corruption encompasses a host of actions such as bribery, election manipulation, fraud, and state capture. The World Bank Group names corruption as a barrier to ending extreme poverty and “boosting shared prosperity” for the poorest populations. When it comes to addressing poverty, climate change, healthcare, gender equality, and more, corruption gets in the way. Because corruption is a global problem, global solutions are necessary. Reform, better accountability systems, and open processes will all help.

Learn more about tackling corruption: What is Corruption: Anti-Corruption and Compliance (University of Pennsylvania)

#19. Authoritarianism

According to Freedom House, global democracy is eroding. That includes countries with long-established democracies. In their 2022 report, the organization reveals that global freedom has been declining for the past 16 years. 60 countries faced declines in the last year. Only 25 saw improvements. Only 20% of the global population lives in Free countries. China, Russia, and other authoritarian countries have gained more power in the international system, while countries with established democracies – like the United States – are losing their freedoms. What can be done? Freedom House says success “requires a bold, sustained response that establishes support for democracy and countering authoritarianism.” Governments and citizens engage and stand for democracy.

Learn more about tackling authoritarianism: Citizenship and the Rule of Law (University of London)

#20. Global cooperation

Addressing the issues in this article is not an easy task. True progress is only possible through global cooperation, a fact which is woven through the WEF report. Everything from addressing cybersecurity threats to humanitarian emergencies to protecting democracy depends on strong cooperation between countries. As the report says in its preface: “Restoring trust and fostering cooperation within and between countries will be crucial to addressing these challenges and preventing the world from drifting further apart.” The challenges threatening global cooperation are just as clear as the need, however, which makes it one of the most serious issues of the day.

Learn more about global cooperation: Global Diplomacy: the United Nations in the World

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

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How to solve all the world's problems, the best answer we've found so far (a few humble tips for world-changers).

Now is not the time for sweaty palms. Because that would, like create some pretty weird polar ice caps. (Or, maybe somebody needs a humanicure/bipedicure? Is this thing on?)

article by LiveReal Agents Grace and Blake

Let's start with a really interesting (and true) story.

Once upon a time, there was a very smart, very earnest guy who wanted to change the world.

He wanted to cure poverty in Africa.

"The debate is over...We know how to end poverty in our lifetime" he said. He was no dreamy-eyed, bong-banging hippie: a Harvard professor, director of Earth Institute at Columbia, worked with the UN, credential salad, etc.

He believed that poverty was a problem that could be solved. And was willing to solve it himself.

He was given $120 million dollars.

How did it turn out?

Well, you can read the full story in The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty by Nina Munk, which tells the story in some detail.

The Cliffs Notes version?

Why are we telling this story?

Because we think it illustrates a good point.

Wanting to change the world isn't enough .

Being sincere, earnest, and having good intentions isn't enough .

Being "smart" isn't enough.

Having tons of money and resources at your disposal isn't enough.

So then, if all this isn't enough... what is?

How do you really change the world in a way that's truly effective, and that doesn't just make a bigger mess of things?

Let's explore.

The world has problems.

Let's start there. This is our premise.

These problems range from big to small, near to far, high to low.

We can rattle off some real unbearables pretty easily: war, famine, cancer, poison ivy, tyranny, corruption, oppression, death, famous people who are famous because they're famous, daytime television, the heat death of the universe...and so on. Just to name a few.

Naturally, anyone with a bit of spunk in them becomes aware of these problems and wants to solve them.

At this point, much of the time, folks will dash off with the best of intentions and proceed to create a flood of new problems.

But some don't.

Those with a certain degree of smarts in them stop for a minute or two and ask the key question:

" How do I solve the world's problems?"

Of course, there are plenty of other forks in the road we could take here. For example, the “why?” question - as in “ Why do you want to solve all the world’s problems?" Or the responsibility question: “Is it really your responsibility to solve all of the world’s problems?" And of course, there's the good old "it's impossible" angle, and plenty more.

We did figure out how to solve one problem. Only 6 trillion, 937 billion or so more to go.

At this point, we're just going to skip by those & keep traveling the trail we're on. (If we need temporary "working hypotheses" to keep us moving, for now, we can just not assume the worst. Meaning, we'll assume for the "why" question, the "because we want to" is good enough. For the responsibility question, we'll assume that, sure, it really is up to us; and for the good old "impossible" question, we'll just assume a certain amount of the "spunk" factor in that we won't assume at this point that it can't be done. We'll revisit these questions later...but for now, on to the "how.")

So...how to solve all the world's problems?

Well, one thing we can also be pretty sure of: it's going to be difficult.

It might even be really difficult. It might even be harder than giving up sugar or watching daytime television. It might even be so difficult that it tests us to the very core of our being.

So if it's going to be that difficult, we're going to have to get in shape.

Not just physical shape. We're going to have to be mentally and emotionally strong . We're going to need to be able to handle stress. We're going to need to understand happiness (we can't really make the rest of the world happy if we're miserable ourselves, right?) - and, if we're really serious about it, we'll probably want to look into "antifragile happiness." We're going to need a lot of virtues - courage, for example, and fortitude - so we're going to have to become a certain kind of "character." Probably more of a "character" than we are right now.

This old guy barged in and kept telling us he'd figured it out, and kept trying to explain it to us. Eventually we figured out that he was talking about that horse-and-buggy situation above.

We're also going to need to be sane . After all, if we set about fixing all the world's problems while being a little crazy ourselves -like many of the rest of the folks who have attempted this feat before - then we're likely to do more harm than good. (And that, exactly, has been the result of all those others who have attempted this before us. More on this to come.)

So we need to be sane, in touch with "reality" - no moral narcissism , no god complexes , no busybody syndrome, no martyr complexes, no raw lust for power, and so on.

In a few words: we'll need to know ourselves .

A lot of folks skip this part.

After all, we study the universe, but we often forget to study the mind that we're using to study the universe with.

Which is to say, most folks forget to study themselves first.

Jiddu Krishnamurti said it well:

"What will bring peace is inward transformation, which will lead to outward action. Inward transformation is not isolation, is not withdrawal from outward action. On the contrary, there can be right action only when there is right thinking and there is no right thinking when there is no self-knowledge. Without knowing yourself, there is no peace..."

So, coming even this far in the problem is good progress. At the very least, we've quite possibly dodged a few misadventures.

After all, a person who knows themselves, is basically sane, is physically, mentally, and emotionally strong, and even - to dust off an old-fashioned yarn-spinner - " virtuous " - well, chances are that person is already doing the world some good, in ways small and unnoticed or big and well-known, wherever they go.

But it isn't solving all the world's problems yet. So we'll keep going.

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." - Leo Tolstoy

Part of being "sane," it seems, means this: we can't base our personal happiness on the results - the outcome - of this endeavor.

After all, if this effort is going to be even moderately difficult or more, and if plenty of people have attempted this before and failed...then it's likely, at the very least, going to take some time.

And if we've based our happiness on the outcome, on succeeding ...well, that means we probably aren't going to be very happy until we've solved all the world's problems.

And that would be bad for us. Which is a problem. (After all, we'd be unhappy.) Which would mean that we actually haven't solved all the world's problems.

But also, it also makes us less likely to succeed. After all, the idea of some unhappy person who is trying to fix the world, but is a mess themselves, is not entirely unfamiliar. And probably never ends well.

In other words, this seems like a good idea: don't try to cover the world in leather; put on shoes.

"Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes." - Ramana Maharshi

So we need to base our happiness on something other than our success at this endeavor.

But what should we base our happiness on, if not that? This is something else we'll have to investigate .

This makes intuitive sense: if we try to "fix the world" without being "fixed" ourselves, we could well be going about it backwards.

For example, one way of looking at this - using religious phraseology - is to say that "trying to fix the world" is something along the lines of trying to create some kind of "heaven" on earth.

To use some religious language for a moment, as Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov says, "divine order" or "heaven" "...cannot be imposed from the outside. Only once the kingdom of God is established within us, will it also come about in the world. Therefore, it is our responsibility to work and establish within ourselves the order and harmony from above."

A lot of signs point in this direction. Work on ourselves first; then work on "the world."

“When we talk about settling the world's problems, we're barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It's a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives.” - Joseph Campbell

In the meantime, one other thing is pretty certain:

if we're going to even have any chance of success in this, we're going to have to understand how the world really works.

More specifically, we're going to have to understand two things: 1) getting things done through other people; and 2) unintended consequences.

We pretty much figured it all out. Really. But then we came down off the drug we were on, and forgot what we had figured out.

In regards to getting things done through other people...well, we can assume that we aren't going to be able to do this ourselves. After all, the world is full of people. So we'll have to be pretty good at relationships to get much of anything done. And in regards to being pretty good at relationships, we know it's not enough to just walk out and start bossing people around. You have to go deeper.

Ken Wilber said it well:

"...They think that in order to fix the world's problems we need to do something in the exterior world - we need to stop polluting the atmosphere, we need to control guns, we need to stop nuclear testing, we need to move to solar power, we need to...always something to fix in the exterior world.

Those are all important, but the real problems are on the interior - we need to help consciousness evolve from egocentric to ethnocentric to worldcentric, or else people won't want to fix all those things in the exterior world to begin with!"

“To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” ― Confucius

In regards to the second aspect of understanding how the world really works before rushing out to save it: we have to understand unintended consequences.

By "unintended consequences," we mean the simple scenario: "I have good intentions; I tried to make X happen, but it turns out that Y happened instead."

The world is full of examples of folks with good intentions (especially ones who aren't all that happy or aren't totally sane) rushing out to change the world for the better...and creating a total disaster. More often than not, they even wind up hurting the very people they were trying to help.

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

A few examples are in order.

A politician promises "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage" while running for office; seven months after taking office, we got hit with the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. (The politician was Herbert Hoover).

Another idealistic politician promises farmers a bright future where his citizens/voters will have pork to eat every day (good intention). Not long after, somewhere between 15 and 45 million people die of famine (The Great Chinese Famine of 1959-1961). (Bad result).

But let's try something smaller and more simple. Some folks simply want bicyclists to be safer (good intention), so required them to wear helmets. As a result of that, after a certain period of time, more bicyclists actually began dying. (Bad result). Why? It turns out that didn't want to wear helmets, so they stopped riding bikes, so became less healthy & more disease-prone.

A group of folks became concerned about the number of poisonous snakes in the area, and wanted to help (good intention). So they offered reward money for every dead snake. This seemed to work for a while. But then, some folks started breeding snakes just so they could turn them in for the reward money. Once everyone realized what was happening, they stopped giving the rewards for snakes. At that point, all the snake-breeders turned their snakes loose...and there were more snakes than before. (Bad result.)

So we worked for a few more years, then we pretty much figured it all out again. Really. But then we came down off the drug we were on, and forgot what we had figured out again.

A different group of folks saw the number of automobile accidents caused by texting and driving. So they decided to pass a law against texting while driving. (Good intention). What they discovered eventually was that the number of automobile accidents actually increased . (Bad result). Why? People still texted while driving, but since there were laws against it, they had to hide their phones and hold them lower, which resulted in them focusing even less on the road. More crashes ensued.

We could go on. (If you want to dig deeper along these lines, a good place to start in one area is here , or here .)

The moral of all this is something along these lines: everything is more complicated than we think it is.

At least, it's a good rule of thumb to assume that everything is always more complicated than we think it is.

It's also good to assume that things don't ever turn out the way we expect them to. In other words, "expect the unexpected." Things won't go as planned. Plan for that.

"I'm still more frightened by the fearless power in the eyes of my fellow psychiatrists than by the powerless fear in the eyes of their patients." - R. D. Laing

We also can't assume that good intentions are all that matters, or that good intentions will create good results in the real world. As shown in the examples above, good intentions can create a lot of unnecessary suffering.

But when we persist even in spite of this happening, it becomes a case of "moral narcissism," where the important thing is how the do-gooder feels about themselves, not how much the victim of all this goodness is harmed by it.

And anyone who winds up inflicting the world with their moral narcissism, especially if they don't have a good grasp on what's really, actually happening out there in the world as a result of their actions, can paradoxically turn them into someone who is actually creating more problems in the world. All the more reason why sanity is mandatory.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C. S. Lewis

So, let's back up a bit more.

What we're really saying is, first we need to understand the world.

In order to "understand the world," we need to understand the nature of the world.

To understand "the nature of the world" means truly, deeply understanding what the world is, where it came from, why it came to be (if there is anything that could be described as a "reason why"), and what our place is in it.

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood." - Stephen Covey

Because of course, we are part of "the world."

So before we rush out to try to rearrange and remake everything, that means we need to understand who we are , why we're here , what our place is, what suffering is and what the right thing to do about it is, and who or what, if anything, created this whole crazy scene . In other words, we have to really, truly, deeply understand The Big Picture .

At this point, all of the paths we've explored merge.

We need to be mentally and emotionally strong ; we need to be sane ; we need to have some kind of happiness that's based on something solid; we need to understand how the world really works, which means understanding the nature of the world, which means understanding ourselves, which means understanding who we are , where we came from, where we're going, why we're here, what we should be doing while we're here, and so on...in other words, " The Big Picture ."

It seems to us that once we figure all that out, then the rest of the questions we touched on earlier - is the world really fixable, whose responsibility it is to fix it, whether we should "fix it" at all, and if so, why - all of those questions and answers, and more, should become clear as a result.

Of course, figuring out "The Big Picture" is no small feat. It might be even tougher than solving all the world's problems. It would require a lot of character and a lot of experiments.

And in the end - who knows - it might even turn out to be more valuable.

"The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men." - The Dhammapada

"...Yours is the earth, and everything that's in it. And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son." - Rudyard Kipling

Once you get to this point...then when it comes to "solving all the world's problems," (assuming you still see that as worth doing), then it becomes a matter of getting your "to do" list together, and prioritize.

And once you do that, you pick the top priority, and you do the "journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" thing.

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How do people solve global problems?

Developing a vaccine is an example of the way to tackle big issues

What do the 3,000-year-old actions of an Egyptian pharaoh say about how we should tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century?

Quite a bit, according to anthropologists at the University of Georgia who analyzed archeological evidence over thousands of years to examine how societies have approached adversity. Their work suggests that rigid, top-down approaches to complex problems have been a doomed strategy throughout human history. Instead, solutions to our most complex challenges begin and end with cooperation and varied, well-functioning institutions.

The researchers observed that healthy societies tend to have multiple institutions that deal with somewhat distinct problems – such as health care and environmental pollution — and that abolishing them or over-centralizing their functions usually blocks the path to critical solutions.

Stephen Kowalewski

“Climate change and a global pandemic are some of the biggest problems humanity has ever faced,” said Stephen Kowalewski, Professor Emeritus of anthropology and the study’s co-author. “Throughout history, humans have always solved big problems by forming social institutions, groups of people organized to respond to a variety of issues. Since people are always faced with multiple, different problems, they tend to create institutions that are varied in origin as well as purpose.”

But societies that swiftly abolish old institutions or centralize power are not equipped in the long-term for complex problems.

Take, for example, Pharaoh Akhenaten (circa 1350 B.C.) in New Kingdom Egypt. The pharaoh imposed a monotheistic religion throughout his kingdom and attempted to eliminate temples and cults associated with all other gods. He also shuttered diplomatic institutions, leading to the breakdown of international relations, adverse military actions and loss of territory.

Twentieth-century attempts to totalize — that is, to abolish existing institutions or to tightly control them as in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia — can build enormous power initially, but that power does not endure.

The research suggests that if humanity wants to solve contemporary global problems, the solutions must be social and organizational.

Jennifer Birch

“Totalizing institutions do not work. There has to be a lot of buy-in from small groups throughout a society,” said Jennifer Birch, associate professor in the department of anthropology and co-author on the study. “We need to have effective institutional responses that can compel people to act in a certain way. We can’t do it as individuals. You need effective coordination of institutions across multiple levels of society to reach enough people to cause real change.”

This method of problem solving can be seen in the development of coronavirus vaccines.

“The speed of the development, from the biotechnology to communications to peer-reviewed publishing, trials and governmental approvals are the result of decentralized efforts that create the possibility, and hopefully the reality, of a successful response,” said Kowalewski. “This isn’t a race for a winner but a global collaboration.”

This paper is published in the new book, “The Evolution of Social Institutions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.”

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Conscious Evolution

6 Ways To Solve World Problems (Starting With Yourself)

Solve the world’s problems.

The world faces many challenges, from suppression of speech to corporations not paying their employees enough to pollution in our air and food.

Tackling these global issues requires innovative and collaborative solutions.

This article explores various ways to address and solve world problems, emphasizing the importance of collective action, technological advancements, and sustainable practices.

How To Solve World Problems.

How do we solve the world’s problems? There are many issues worldwide, and not all can be resolved. One major global issue is population growth.

People have more and more children and are not thinking about how they will be cared for.

The more people on this planet, the more resources will be needed. From what I can tell, we are not currently experiencing a shortage of people.

Another one is pollution. I’m not here to tell anyone how to live their lives or that they are wrong. It’s just my viewpoint from where I am now. Of course, my beliefs can change, and this article will reflect that change.

Go anywhere in the world and go to a specific area. The area is a reflection of the people that live there.

Is the area :

• Reasonably clean and free of trash and litter?
• Virtually crime-free?
• Safe to walk anytime?
• Are the property values high or low?
• Is there a sense of pride in the area?
• Is there a sense of community where the majority share values and beliefs?

Solving world hunger is not a problem when you teach people how to grow and preserve their food. Humans have been doing this since creation.

Why is this a challenge now? Dependency is the answer.

People often forget to be self-sufficient and not depend on others for their needs. I know some areas of the world are not easy to grow food in, but overall, seeds, water, fertile soil, and sunshine are needed to grow food.

World Problems To Solve

Resolving the individual’s imbalances can resolve the world’s problems. However, our current level of thinking and behavior prevents us from reaching the next step of conscious evolution.

I have witnessed an overwhelming influx of self-important people with a false sense of entitlement complex. I was born into this world but did not create it, and I would like to leave this world better than I found it.

This is why I blog and try to be a positive example for people I encounter offline.

This is why I recycle and repurpose everything I can. This is why I compost my food scraps. This is why I don’t drink alcohol or use drugs. This is why I am kind to everyone I meet.

This is why I don’t own pets or enslave anyone to me for any reason. Below, I wrote down six areas individuals must improve to escape our current world reality loop.

A reality loop is much like Groundhog Day syndrome . It’s where life keeps repeating itself even if the people, places, and things change. Real change begins within and starts with the individual, not the collective consciousness.

When we change the individual’s level of thinking and behavior, this will positively affect the collective.

The outside-in approach does not work. We have this problem of focusing on the outside world’s concerns and then trying to fix them.

• We have the war on drugs, and it hasn’t worked.
• We have the war on terror, and it doesn’t work.
• We have a war on hunger, and it doesn’t work.
• We have a war on cancer, and it doesn’t work.

Anytime there is a “war” on anything, it is a ploy to take more of your money to fight it. According to Universal Law, what we focus on gets more prominent, and what we fight – fights us, which gets more potent, pulling itself into reality.

All fighting is an inner battle with the “self” manifesting into physical reality. As above, so below.

Start with Yourself

Addressing global problems begins with individual actions and choices.

While it may seem overwhelming to tackle large-scale issues, personal responsibility and commitment can contribute to positive change.

Here are some ways to start solving world problems by making changes in your own life:

• Educate Yourself: Stay informed about global issues. Read reliable news sources, books, and research papers to deepen your understanding of the world’s challenges.
• Practice Sustainable Living: Adopt eco-friendly habits to reduce your environmental impact. This includes reducing waste, conserving energy, using sustainable products, and supporting environmentally responsible companies.
• Consume Responsibly: Make mindful choices about the products you buy. Support companies that prioritize ethical and sustainable practices. Consider the environmental and social impact of your purchases.
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Embrace the principles of the three Rs to minimize waste. Reduce unnecessary consumption, reuse items when possible, and recycle materials to contribute to a more sustainable and circular economy.
• Volunteer and Donate: Contribute your time, skills, or resources to organizations addressing global issues. Volunteer for local or international causes and consider donating to reputable charities working towards positive change.
• Promote Education: Support educational initiatives, both locally and globally. Education is a powerful tool for empowering individuals and communities to break the cycle of poverty and contribute to positive societal change.
• Practice Empathy and Compassion: Foster empathy in your interactions with others. Understand different perspectives and seek common ground. Compassion and understanding can bridge divides and contribute to a more harmonious world.
• Advocate for Change: Speak up about issues that matter to you. Use your voice to advocate for positive change in your community or on a larger scale. Engage in discussions and encourage others to be aware and active.|
• Lead by Example: Demonstrate the values and behaviors you wish to see in the world. Your actions can inspire others to make positive changes in their lives, creating a ripple effect of impact.
• Fair Income : Corporations making record profits should increase hourly wages and salaries to reflect that. If not, yearly profit bonuses should be distributed.

Remember, no action is too small, and collective efforts from individuals can lead to significant change.

By starting with yourself and encouraging those around you to do the same, you contribute to a broader movement towards a more sustainable, just, and compassionate world.

Solve The World’s Problems These 6 Ways

• Self – Responsibility
• Self – Reliance
• Service to others

1. Integrity

Integrity means being honest, strong moral principles, and morally upright. A person with integrity behaves ethically and does the right thing, even when no one is watching.

Integrity means to do, say, or be for the greater good. Are your actions helping the collective, or are they only benefiting you? Ask yourself this question? “If everyone did what you are doing, would it help humanity and the planet, or would it have a negative impact?”

Integrity counts personally, but it also matters in business and groups. Does your product contain chemicals? Does your product negatively affect the health of the consumer?

Does your business do whatever it takes to get the sale, even if it’s done without integrity?

Does your group only care about their concerns, even if it means stepping into the interests of other groups? Do your political aspirations seek to benefit a tiny minority while negating what the majority wants?

Integrity is linked with happiness, high self-esteem, self-confidence, and a strong sense of self, and it motivates social action.

2. Self-Responsibility

Self-responsibility means precisely that. Take 100% responsibility for everything that happens in your life. This is not about blame or victimization. Take responsibility so you can respond and not react to your problems and challenges.

Personal responsibility helps you take control of your choices and your perceived reality.

Responding to a problem means consciously evaluating the situation and taking appropriate action. Reacting is a “knee-jerk” response based on the ego’s survival.

Also, don’t be a pest for other people. Everyone has unique challenges they are dealing with, and they don’t need emotionally immature people unnecessarily causing them issues.

Some benefits of being responsible are more confidence, better problem-solving skills , better relationships, becoming a role model, and improved decision-making.

3. Self-Reliance

Self–reliance means being able to take care of yourself without perpetually needing to depend on others. It also means solving problems and making decisions by yourself, which allows you to feel happy by yourself, in yourself, and about yourself without needing to rely on others.

Sure, you can outsource (pay) things you no longer have time to do, and that’s fine.

Can you survive on your own? Do you have the skills and confidence to do this?

One of my favorite shows is History Channel’s Mountain Men . What I like about this show is that it teaches self–reliance and survival skills.

The Men on this show understand the importance of self-reliance and rarely have to look outside themselves to get things done. If a major catastrophe occurred, most people wouldn’t know how to survive and care for themselves.

One thing I would suggest is to always stay in touch with nature. Go hiking, camping, fishing, and growing a vegetable garden.

Stop this now if you are the “Hero” or “White Knight” type. You are not doing anyone any good by solving their problems for them.

Every person can handle their life in most cases. Be wary of people who complain about their ex-partners because usually, they create their own problems and have a massive victim mentality.

Before you know it, they’ll be complaining about you to other people. Certain circumstances require outside intervention, such as sick, disabled, or young children. Helping people is acceptable; however, some will exploit your good nature.

Help when you can, say “No,” and don’t be afraid to say it; however, don’t help so much at your own expense.

⇒Related Article: 15 Ways To Deal With Hard Times In Your Life

4. Community

As much as I believe the individual is essential, having a sense of community is equally important. This means we belong to something more substantial than us, and I consider myself lucky to have such great neighbors.

When it snows, my neighbor down the street plows my driveway. I didn’t even have to ask him to do it.

Two winters ago, my next-door neighbor let me borrow his generator when we lost power for two days. Once again, I did not have to ask him.

Also, of course, I help my neighbors in any way I can. When my neighbor, a couple of houses down, was trying to assemble a playground set for his kid’s birthday party, I helped him.

This is what a good community is all about.

Some community benefits are vital social connection and engagement, boosting physical and mental health, togetherness and adaptation, never being alone, and assuring safety and well-being.

5. Service To Others

No man is an island. What we do for others, we do for ourselves, along with the Law of Karma. I’m always looking for ways to randomly help people because I know I will receive help when needed.

There are lots of ways to be of service to others, and most jobs offer this function. Police, firefighters, nurses, teachers, waiters, volunteers, mentors, coaches, bloggers, and others are all ways to serve others.

I can tell you right now that service to others, when done correctly and without any expectation of something in return, is the surest way to get what you want out of life.

Remember this: what you put out comes back to you, so make sure what you are putting out is what you want to receive.

Some benefits of serving others are improving social support, encouraging us to lead a more physically active lifestyle, distracting us from our problems, allowing us to engage in meaningful activity, and improving our self-esteem and competence.

In essence, serving others will feel good.

Values act as your compass, returning you to the course every day so that you are perpetually moving in the direction that takes you closer to your goals.

• I value lots of things.
• I value kindness.
• I value cleanliness and order.
• I value respect for myself and others.
• I value my time.
• I value my body.
• I value Planet Earth.
• I value money.
• I value personal integrity.
• I value justice.
• I value my home.
• I value having mental clarity.
• I value learning something new.
• I value my personal space.
• I value my friends and family.
• I value abundance.
• I value altruism (Not the pathological kind)
• I value comfort.
• I value balance and fairness (Justice) in all matters.
• I value having lots of personal energy and stamina.

As you can see, my values are not very different from yours, and I believe similar values connect us all. I also know that values can change over time, and what was once a substantial value might become unimportant later in life.

Either way, I would advise you to spend ten minutes creating a value list and prioritizing them in order of importance. It’s also good to revise your values every six months and make changes or add new values to your list.

If you’re unsure what you genuinely value, I would advise you to keep a small notebook with you for a few weeks and write down things that make you feel good when you see or read them.

Values can improve your problem-solving and decision-making skills, help you realize what is most important, and help you increase your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Conclusion About Solving The World’s Problems

Solving world problems is a complex and multifaceted endeavor that requires a collective and sustained effort from individuals, governments, businesses, and organizations worldwide.

By embracing collaboration, technological innovation, sustainable practices, and a commitment to justice, we can work towards creating a better world for present and future generations.

Through these concerted efforts, we can address the root causes of global challenges and pave the way for a more sustainable and harmonious future.

If you want help creating a better world and solving the world’s problems, start with yourself. In short, if we’re going to transform the world, we must change ourselves.

When individuals make small positive changes, the rest will eventually follow. Thanks for reading my article about how to solve the world’s problems.

⇒Read Next: Embracing Challenges And Opportunities

(This blog is reader supported. When you buy through affiliate links on this site, I earn a commission.)

How to create a ‘world without waste’? Here are the plastic industry’s ideas.

A deep dive into the petrochemical industry's proposals for the global plastics treaty..

In the time it takes you to read this sentence — say, four seconds — the world produces nearly 60 metric tons of plastic, almost entirely out of fossil fuels. That’s about 53,000 metric tons an hour, 1.3 million metric tons a day, or 460 million metric tons a year . Those numbers are fueling widespread and growing contamination of Earth’s oceans, rivers, and the terrestrial environment with plastic trash.

In March 2022, the United Nations’ 193 member states got together in Nairobi, Kenya, and agreed to do something about it. They pledged to negotiate a treaty to “end plastic pollution,” with the goal of delivering a final draft by 2025. The most ambitious vision espoused by member states in the negotiating sessions that have taken place so far would require petrochemical companies to stop making so much of the darn stuff by putting a cap on global plastic production.

Given the existential threat this would pose to fossil fuel and chemical companies, you might expect them to be vociferously opposed to the treaty. Yet they claim to support the agreement. They’re even “ championing ” it, according to statements from a handful of industry groups. The American Chemistry Council has repeatedly “welcome[d]” progress on the treaty negotiations , while an executive from the International Council of Chemical Associations told Plastics Today in April that the industry is “ fully committed ” to supporting an agreement.

So what exactly do plastic-producing companies want from the treaty? To answer this question, Grist sifted through dozens of public statements and policy documents from five of the world’s largest petrochemical industry trade organizations, as well as two product-specific industry groups. These documents included press releases reacting to treaty negotiating sessions and longer position statements detailing the industry’s desired pathway to a “world without waste.” 

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Much of what these groups have published is vague — many documents call for “targets,” for example, without saying what they should be. Grist reached out to all of the groups for clarification, but only two agreed to answer questions about the policies they support.

What we found is that, although they fall far short of what so-called “high-ambition” countries and advocacy groups would like to get out of the treaty, industry groups’ proposals to bolster recycling and waste collection could cause a significant reduction in mismanaged plastic waste — even in the absence of a cap on plastic production. According to a policy analysis tool developed by researchers at the University of California, the elements of the treaty that industry groups support, cobbled together, could cut global plastic pollution by 43 million metric tons annually by 2050 — a 36 percent reduction below business-as-usual estimates.

Meanwhile, a realistic production cap could cut annual pollution by 48 million metric tons all by itself. Excluding a production cap from the treaty will make it much harder to rein in plastic pollution, said Douglas McCauley, an associate professor of biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and one of the creators of the policy tool. “It means you really have to ramp up your ambition on what some of the other policies would need to do,” he told Grist.

These numbers matter, because the plastic industry’s influence over the treaty negotiations seems to be growing stronger. At the most recent round of talks — held in Ottawa, Canada , at the end of April — nearly 200 petrochemical and fossil fuel lobbyists registered to attend . That’s 37 more than were registered for the previous session, and more than the number of representatives from European Union member states. 

At the same time, several delegations promoted solutions on the industry’s terms. Malaysia warned about the unintended economic consequences of limiting plastic production, and India said the treaty should focus on pollution while considering plastics’ utility to modern society. Given the power of the plastics industry and the tendency of international negotiations to cater to the lowest common denominator, it’s possible that the treaty will strongly reflect these industry priorities.

How the industry sees the problem

To understand the industry position on the plastics treaty, it’s important to understand how plastic makers conceptualize the plastics crisis. While they agree that pollution is a scourge, they don’t think the solution is to reduce society’s production and use of plastic. After all, plastics come with myriad benefits. They’re inexpensive, lightweight, and widely used in important sectors like clean energy and medicine — their “unmatched properties and versatility have allowed for incredible innovations that conserve resources and make more things in life possible,” as the Plastics Industry Association has put it . America’s Plastic Makers, an arm of the American Chemistry Council, says policymakers should ensure that the material stays “ in our economy and out of our environment .”

The way to do this, according to industry groups, is through “plastics circularity,” a concept that seeks to keep the material in use for as long as possible before it’s thrown away. Generally, this means more recycling. But circularity can also refer to scaled-up systems allowing plastic to be reused, or better infrastructure for waste collection. As plastic makers see it, the plastic treaty’s function should be to increase circularity while retaining the social and economic benefits derived from plastic products. 

Perhaps the biggest problem faced by circularity proponents is plastic’s abysmal recycling rate. At present, the world only recycles about 9 percent of all plastic it produces ; the rest gets sent to landfills or incinerators, or winds up as litter. What’s more, in most cases the material can only be reprocessed once or twice — if at all — before it has to be “downcycled” into lower-quality products like carpeting. Although some experts believe it’s impossible to recycle much more plastic due to technological and economic constraints, plastic makers say otherwise. Indeed, plastics circularity hinges on the possibility of a better recycling rate.

From left: Recycling bins for plastic, paper, and foam; a recycling symbol on a plastic bag.  Lindsey Nicholson / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images; Joseph Winters / Grist

The industry’s first solution: Recycling targets

To that end, several industry groups — including the World Plastics Council, the self-described “ global voice of the plastics industry ” — are advocating for “ mandatory minimum recycling rates ” as part of the treaty, as well as higher targets for recycled content used in new products.

This could mean that countries, regions, or other jurisdictions would set legally binding quotas for the amount of plastic recycled within their borders and then converted into new items. Plastic makers typically favor targets that are set at the local or national level and that differentiate based on the type of plastic, since some types are harder to recycle than others.

Industry groups also want recycling targets to be “ technology-neutral ,” meaning they should count plastics processed through controversial “chemical recycling” techniques. Although these techniques do not yet work at scale , the industry says they will one day be able to break down mixed post-consumer plastic into their constituent polymers using high heat and pressure, and then turn those polymers back into new plastic products. Environmental experts oppose chemical recycling , pointing to evidence that it is primarily used to burn plastics or turn them into fuel .

The two policies — on plastics recycling and recycled content — could be mutually reinforcing, with the latter creating a more reliable market for the recycled material generated by the former. Ross Eisenberg, president of America’s Plastic Makers, told Grist via email that recycling and recycled content targets would “create demand signals and provide added certainty for companies to make additional investments for a circular economy, so more plastic products are reused or remade into new plastic products.”

According to Plastics Europe, the continent’s main plastic trade group, boosting the recycling rate would decrease countries’ dependence on fossil fuels used to make virgin plastics.

Plastics Europe and the World Plastics Council declined to be interviewed for this article. They did not respond to questions about their support for specific recycling and recycled content targets, although Plastics Europe has voiced support for “mandatory data and reporting objectives for all stages of the life cycle of the plastics system.” For the U.S., America’s Plastic Makers supports a 30 percent recycled content requirement in plastic packaging by 2030, and for 100 percent of plastic packaging to be “ reused, recycled, or recovered by 2040 .”

The industry’s second solution: Infrastructure and design changes

Additional policies supported by industry groups could indirectly facilitate an increase in the plastics recycling rate by raising money for recycling infrastructure. These policies typically involve systems for “extended producer responsibility,” or EPR, requiring companies that make and sell plastics to help pay for the collection and recycling of the waste they generate, as well as the cleanup of existing plastic pollution. Every industry group Grist reached out to says it supports EPR as a part of the treaty, although some specifically note in their policy documents that such policies should be adopted at the local or national level , rather than globally. Some groups, including the American Chemistry Council and Global Partners for Plastics Circularity — an umbrella group supported by a dozen plastics associations and companies — also call more vaguely for additional financing through “ public-private partnerships and blended finance .”

Clockwise from top left: Plastics-treaty delegates strive to get through details of the text; the delegates gather for discussions; pro-plastic messaging seen in hotels in Ottawa during negotiations over the global plastics treaty.   IISD / ENB / Kiara Worth

For plastic packaging — which accounts for about 36 percent of global plastic production — a European industry consortium called the Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging supports “ mandatory legislation on product design ” to make products easier to recycle. It doesn’t back any specific design elements, but points to ideas laid out by the Consumer Goods Forum , an industry-led network of consumer product retailers and manufacturers. These ideas include using clear instead of colored plastics, limiting the use of unnecessary plastic wrap, and ensuring that any adhesives or inks applied to plastic packaging don’t render it nonrecyclable. Plastics Europe additionally supports technical and design standards for biodegradable and compostable plastics intended to replace those made from fossil fuels.

Many groups also say they support targets for “pellet containment,” referring to the tiny plastic pieces that are melted down and shaped into larger items. These pellets are notorious for spilling out of manufacturing facilities or off of cargo ships and into waterways; in Europe, 20 truckloads of them escape into the environment every day. Several trade groups say in their public statements that they support an industry-led program called Operation Clean Sweep to help companies achieve “zero resin loss” by “fostering a venue for precompetitive collaboration and peer-learning opportunities.” 

However, Operation Clean Sweep has been around since 1991 and has not yet achieved its goal; some policymakers have recently called for stricter regulations on plastic pellet loss .

The industry’s third solution: Application-based regulations

In addition to capping plastic production, many countries’ delegates — along with scientists and environmental groups — would like the treaty to ban or restrict some of the most problematic plastic polymers, as well as certain chemicals used in plastics. They call these “ chemicals and polymers of concern ,” meaning those least likely to be recycled, or most likely to damage people’s health and the environment. Potential candidates include polyvinyl chloride, widely used in water pipes, upholstery, toys, and other applications; expanded polystyrene, or EPS, the foamy plastic that’s often used in takeout food containers; and endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as phthalates, bisphenols, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances .

The general idea of identifying problematic chemicals and polymers in the plastics treaty is very popular; observers of the negotiations say it’s been one of the areas of greatest convergence among delegates. Industry groups are also supportive — but only of a very specific approach. According to the World Plastics Council, the treaty shouldn’t include “ arbitrary bans or restrictions on substances or materials ,” but rather regulations based on the “essential use and societal value” of particular types of plastic.

Salvatore Laporta / KontroLab / LightRocket via Getty Images; Getty Images; Joseph Winters / Grist

For instance, polystyrene used in packing peanuts and takeout containers is virtually never recycled and might be a good candidate for restriction. But the Global Expanded Polystyrene Sustainability Alliance — a trade group for EPS makers — points to evidence that, in Europe and Japan, the material can be recycled at least 30 percent of the time when it’s in a different format — namely, insulation for products like coolers, as well as big pieces used to protect fragile shipments.

In a press release , the group said this distinction in polystyrene formatting demonstrates the need to assess plastics’ “individual material applications and uses independently.”

“We’ve got five major types” of polystyrene, said Betsy Bowers, executive director of the Expanded Polystyrene Industry Alliance, a trade group representing the U.S. EPS market. “Some of them can be recycled, and some of them can’t.”

Plastics Europe has said an application-based approach could also consider plastic products on the basis of “ leakage ,” how easily the products become litter; the feasibility of redesigning them; or “effects on human or animal health.” That said, the organization does not support restricting plastic-related chemicals as part of the treaty, beyond what is already spelled out in existing international agreements like the Stockholm Convention . The International Council of Chemical Associations, whose members include individual chemical manufacturers and regional trade groups, does not support any chemical regulation as part of the treaty . 

In an email to Grist, the American Chemistry Council said it supports a “decision-tree approach” to prevent specific plastic products from leaking into the environment. The organization said in a letter sent to President Joe Biden last May that it opposes “restrictions of trade in chemicals or polymers” because they would “make U.S. manufacturers less competitive and/or jeopardize the many benefits plastics provide to the economy and the environment.”

The International Council of Chemical Associations, the Plastics Industry Association, and the Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging initiative did not respond to Grist’s request to be interviewed for this story, or to questions about the policies they support.

The impact of the plastic industry’s favorite policies

While it’s clear that self-preservation is at the heart of the petrochemical industry’s agenda for the plastics treaty, the policies it supports could have a positive impact on plastic pollution. According to the policy analysis tool created by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Santa Barbara, a suite of ambitious policies to hit recycling and recycled content rates of 20 percent, reuse 60 percent of plastic packaging (where applicable), and dedicate $35 billion to plastics recycling and waste infrastructure could prevent 43 million metric tons of plastic pollution annually by midcentury. Most of this reduction would come from the infrastructure funding.

McCauley, one of the creators of the tool, said these policies are certainly better than nothing. They can bring the world “closer to a future without plastic pollution,” he told Grist, although he emphasized that recycling is not a silver bullet. 

The policy tool takes for granted that higher recycling and recycled content rates are achievable, but this might not be the case. Bjorn Beeler, executive director and international coordinator for the nonprofit International Pollutants Elimination Network, said a 20 percent recycling rate would be “nearly impossible” to reach, given the relatively low cost of virgin plastic and the petrochemical industry’s projected expansion over the coming decades. Jan Dell, an independent chemical engineer and founder of the nonprofit The Last Beach Cleanup, estimated the maximum possible recycled content rate for consumer product packaging would be about 5 percent, due to insurmountable technological constraints related to plastics’ toxicity .

Experts tend to favor plastic production caps as a much faster, reliable, and more straightforward way to reduce plastic pollution than relying on recycling. According to McCauley’s policy tool, capping plastic production at the level reached in 2019 would prevent 48 million metric tons of annual plastic pollution by 2050 — even in the absence of any efforts to boost recycling or fund waste management. “It’s possible to be effective without the cap,” said Sam Pottinger, a senior research data scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a contributor to the policy tool. “But it requires a huge amount of effort elsewhere.”

The future of global plastic pollution

Global annual rate of mismanaged waste, million metric tons.

There’s no reason the plastics treaty couldn’t incorporate a production cap in addition to the industry’s preferred recycling interventions. Some experts say this would form the most effective agreement; according to the policy tool, a production cap at 2019 levels plus the suite of recycling targets and funding for waste infrastructure could prevent nearly 78 million metric tons of annual plastic pollution by 2050. Bumping up the funding for recycling and waste infrastructure to an aggressive $200 billion, in combination with the production cap and other policies, would avert nearly 109 million metric tons of pollution each year.

“We need to use all of the tools in our toolbox,” said Zoie Diana, a postdoctoral plastics researcher at the University of Toronto who was not involved in creating the policy tool. She too emphasized, however, that governments should prioritize reducing plastic production.

What the industry doesn’t like to talk about

The case for a production cap goes beyond plastic litter concerns. It would also address the inequitable impact of toxic pollution from plastic manufacturing facilities, as well as the industry’s contribution to climate change. In April, a study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that plastic production already accounts for 5 percent of global climate pollution, and that by 2050 — given the petrochemical industry’s plans to dramatically ramp up plastic production — it could eat up one-fifth of the world’s remaining carbon budget, the amount of emissions the world can release while still limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). To achieve international climate goals, some environmental groups have estimated that the world must reduce plastic production by 12 to 17 percent every year starting in 2024.

“Whether the treaty includes plastic production cuts is not just a policy debate,” said Jorge Emmanuel, an adjunct professor at Silliman University in the Philippines, in a statement describing the mountains of plastic trash that are harming Filipino communities. “It’s a matter of survival.”

Petrochemical companies, for their part, do not deeply engage with these arguments — at least not in their public policy documents. They claim that plastics actually help mitigate climate change, since the lightweight material takes less fuel to transport than alternatives made of metal and glass. And industry groups’ public statements mostly do not address environmental justice concerns related to plastic use, production, and disposal, except to vaguely say that the treaty shouldn’t harm waste pickers — the millions of workers, most of them in the developing world, who make a living collecting plastic trash and selling it to recyclers. 

The fifth and final round of negotiations for the plastics treaty is scheduled to take place in Busan, South Korea, this November. Although many observers, including a group of U.S. Congressional representatives and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights , have called for conflict-of-interest policies to limit trade groups’ influence over the talks, these requests face long odds. The dozens of countries advocating for production limits may have to defend their proposals against an even larger industry presence than they did at the last session in Ottawa.

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Bibliometrics & citations, view options, recommendations, a variable neighborhood search for the multi depot vehicle routing problem with time windows.

The aim of this paper is to propose an algorithm based on the philosophy of the Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) to solve Multi Depot Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Windows. The paper has two main contributions. First, from a technical point of ...

A hybridisation of adaptive variable neighbourhood search and large neighbourhood search

An effective hybridisation of adaptive VNS with LNS is proposed.Intelligent selection mechanism is integrated in the local search of the AVNS.Introduction of effective data structure and a neighbourhood reduction scheme.A novel implementation of LNS ...

Solving the Capacitated Dispersion Problem with variable neighborhood search approaches: From basic to skewed VNS

The topic of this paper is the Capacitated Dispersion Problem (CDP). To solve the problem, variable neighborhood search (VNS) based heuristics are proposed. The proposed heuristics are Basic VNS, General VNS and General Skewed VNS. ...

• Two new neighborhood structures for the CDP are investigated for the first time.

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