Humankind

Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

Peter Schulte / February 16, 2025

To decarbonize road transport and achieve global climate goals, the world must move away from petrol and diesel cars and toward electric vehicles and other forms of low-carbon transport. Fortunately, this transition is already well underway, with global sales of combustion engine cars peaking in 2017 or 2018 and now falling. In 2018, global combustion engine cars peaked at more than 80 million. By 2023, sales had fallen below 65 million units as EV sales rose dramatically.

Childhood Hepatitis B cases drop 80% worldwide in last three decades

Peter Schulte / November 9, 2020

Due to a highly effective global vaccine program, the proportion of children under five who are chronically infected with Hepatitis B has plummeted significantly—to just under 1%. This is down from around 5% in the pre-vaccine era (the period between the 1980s and the early 2000s), according to new estimates from the World Health Organization.

School enrollment for girls around the world has risen from 73% to 89% since 1995

Peter Schulte / November 9, 2020

A new report from UNESCO shows great progress globally in girls’ education since 1995’s Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark commitment by 189 countries to advance the rights of girls and women.

Tuberculosis deaths have fallen by 14% in five years, saving 60 million in the last two decades

Peter Schulte / October 31, 2020

In the World Health Organization’s annual global tuberculosis report, the UN agency responsible for international public health forecasts hundreds of thousands of people recovering from, or avoiding the disease of TB altogether. Since 2000, TB treatment has averted the deaths of 60 million people, the disease itself being treatable with the right medicine.