• Poverty is down in Indonesia. The number of those living on less than $3.20 a day dropped from 61% in 2002 to 16% in 2022. World Bank (PDF link).
• In Uganda, new HIV infections declined by 39% between 2010 and 2021, and AIDS-related deaths fell from 51,000 a year to 17,000 a year, a decline of 67%. New Vision.
• Philippines rescues over 1,000 trafficking victims. The Straits Times.
• Black rhino populations are starting to thrive in Zimbabwe for the first time in decades. ABC News.
• British wind power overtakes gas for the first time in Q1 2023. Reuters.
• About 80 percent of new cars sold in Norway are battery-powered. As a result, the air is cleaner, the streets are quieter and the grid hasn’t collapsed. New York Times.
• In San Francisco, Waymo is now covering the entire peninsula, operating a free, 24/7 robotaxi service and Waymo’s service area in Phoenix is doubling. The Verge.
• Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon falls 68% in April. Reuters.
• Bangladesh eliminates lymphatic filariasis. WHO.
• Thai voters choose democracy in a stunning election. Vox.

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

• Globally, the death rate due to chronic respiratory diseases fell by 41.7% between 1990 to 2019. The Lancet.
• Despite doom and gloom news reports, France has one of the lowest levels of inequality in the world, one of the highest life expectancies, its workers retire earlier than anywhere else in Europe, unemployment is the lowest it’s been since 2008, and it has the lowest climate footprint of any large wealthy country. The Guardian.
• Australia’s murder rate has fallen by 55% since the early 1990s. Since 2009, physical assaults are down by 39%, face-to-face threatened assaults are down 44%, and robberies are down 50%. The Conversation.
• Meet the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners: Alessandra Munduruku, who saved indigenous lands in the Amazon from mining, Chilekwa Mumba, who successfully sued the owners of a copper mine in Zambia, Delima Silalahi, who reclaimed swathes of Indonesia from a paper company, Zafer Kizilkaya, who expanded Turkey’s marine protected areas, Tero Mustonen, who pioneered peatland restoration in Finland, and Diane Wilson, who held a plastics company to account for dumping in Texas. Goldman Prize.
• 50 years ago, Project Puffin brought puffins back to Maine. There are now more than 1,300 breeding pairs. Down East.
• An estimated 68 million child marriages have been averted globally over the past 25 years. Unicef.
• World’s largest battery maker announces major breakthrough in energy density. The Driven.

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

• This year marks the 20th anniversary of Bush’s mammoth program to fight HIV and AIDS that turned the tide of the epidemic and has saved 25 million lives so far. The New York Times.
• Breast cancer survivorship doubles in Canada compared to 2007. Science Daily.
• Black unemployment rate hits record low 5 percent. The Washington Post.
• Last year, an initiative called Deworm the World helped India, Pakistan, Kenya and Nigeria provide treatment to around 249 million children. Evidence Action.
• Poland has experienced the longest uninterrupted period of growth in European history. Real GDP has increased sixfold in three decades, and the country has a record-low unemployment rate of 3%, lower infant mortality than Canada, higher female life expectancy than the US, and less violent crime than the UK. The Guardian.

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

• In Cambodia, 99% of women now give birth with help from a trained healthcare provider, a huge increase from just over one in three women in 2000. Also, neonatal and under five mortality rates have rapidly declined over the past two decades and life expectancy has gone up. Khmer Times.
• There is no sixth mass extinction going on. Warp News.
• Critically endangered porpoise shows signs of recovery. Bird Guides.
• Volcanic microbe eats CO2 ‘astonishingly quickly’, say scientists. The Guardian.
• With bird-tracking AI and turbines that grind to a halt before strikes occur, today’s wind farms are safer than ever for travelers on the wing. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• By intervening early, often with small rent payments, a Portland shelter kept nearly 100 families out of homelessness last year, saving thousands of dollars in future rehousing costs. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• Spain sees the world’s first lung transplant performed entirely by robot. Euronews.
• Convictions cleared for nearly 850K Michiganders as ‘Clean Slate’ program takes effect. Michigan Advance.

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

• Uzbekistan parliament passes long-overdue legislation criminalizing domestic violence. Amnesty International.
• Despite the reputation of the broke Millennial, their incomes and homeownership rates are actually akin to those of Boomers and Gen Xers at the same age. The Atlantic.
• Fast EV chargers to nearly double on U.S. highways under expansion plan. The Wall Street Journal.
• New coral reef discovered in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. Reuters.
• Promising new AI can detect early signs of lung cancer that doctors can’t see. NBC News.
• Bacteria can be engineered to fight cancer in mice. Human trials are coming. MIT Technology Review.
• Does no-resumé, no-interview hiring work? New data say yes. Reasons to be Cheerful.

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

• Between 1999 and 2020, the rate of deaths from heart attacks fell from 87 per 100,000 people to 38 per 100,000 people, and racial disparities narrowed by nearly half. American College of Cardiology.
• WHO certifies Azerbaijan and Tajikistan as malaria-free. WHO.
• Scotland’s minimum pricing linked to 13% drop in alcohol-related deaths, study finds. The Guardian.
• Harvard geneticists create an organism that is immune to all viruses. Freethink.
• The employment gap between white and black workers is the smallest it’s ever been. Axios.
• The chances that a newborn survives childhood have increased from 50% to 96% globally. Our World in Data.
• Gen Zers drink about 20 percent less alcohol per capita than millennials did at their age and the share of college-age adults abstaining from alcohol has grown from 20 to 28 percent over the last two decades. The Hill.

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

• Deaths from tuberculosis in Africa fell by 26% between 2015 and 2021, saving an estimated half a million lives. WHO.
• Nigeria has made substantial progress in its fight against AIDS, with annual deaths declining from 264,463 in 2015 to 51,000 in 2022. Punch.
• Deaths from terrorism have fallen by over a third since their peak in 2015. Vision of Humanity (PDF link).
• Mother, child mortality rates decline in Laos. The Laotian Times.
• Oregon has approved $200 million for the state’s homeless. Oregon Capital Chronicle.
• World’s first mRNA vaccine against deadly plague bacteria is 100% effective in mice. Interesting Engineering.
• Suicide rates have fallen worldwide since 2000. Our World in Data.
• Global renewables capacity grew by 10% last year. Reuters.

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