• AIDS-related deaths have decreased. In 2021, around 650,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses worldwide, compared to 2 million people in 2004 and 1.4 million people in 2010. UNAIDS (PDF link).
• Leprosy has decreased from over five million cases a year in the 1980s to just 133,802 in 2021. WHO (PDF link).
• Since 2008, the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, which supplies reproductive health services, has prevented 254,000 maternal deaths and saved 1.6 million children.
• In Tanzania, deaths due to malaria have decreased by 71% from 6,311 in 2015 to 1,811 in 2021. For children under 5, malaria-related mortalities declined by approximately 50% between 1999 and 2016. Global Citizen.
• By 2020, the number of violent crime arrests involving youth reached a new low, 78% below the 1994 peak, and half the number 10 years earlier. US Department of Justice (PDF link).
• A series of bipartisan bills has led to a 21% decline in prison populations in Oklahoma in the past five years. The Crime Report.
• Texas bail reform reduced jail time and crime, new study says. Bloomberg.
• Seven years ago, the homicide rate in El Salvador was 103 homicides per 100,000 people – the highest in the world. In 2021, that had dropped to 18 per 100,000, and the downward trend has continued into 2022. El Salvador Info.
• Aggregate global wealth grew by 12.7% in 2021, which is the fastest annual rate ever recorded. It’s not just the rich getting richer. Global wealth inequality has fallen this century because emerging economies are growing faster. Global median wealth has risen approximately twice as fast as global wealth per adult. Credit Suisse.
• All fifty states greenlit to move EV charging networks forward, covering 75,000 miles of highway. US Department of Transportation.
• In a bipartisan vote, US Senate ratifies pact to curb potent greenhouse gases. New York Times.
• Phoenix plans to build affordable housing on vacant city land. Axios.

For more good news, check out The Progress Network, and Future Crunch.