Improving World
Life expectancy, which for much of human history was 20-30 years, increased from a worldwide average of 31 in 1900 to 67 in 2003. For the high income countries it has reached 78 years.
Infant mortality (death of infants before the age of one per 1,000 live births) was typically over 200 before industrialisation. That is over 1/5 of babies died before reaching their first birthday. The worldwide average has fallen from 150 in the early 1950s to 57 in 2003. In the developed world the average is 7.1.