Five good news from 2021 – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

Better to live in the world

For most people in the world, life is getting better. At least if one ignores the pandemic.

Every year, the Social Progress Index measures how the inhabitants of 168 countries feel when it comes to health care, security, access to education, rights and the environment.

2021 edition shows that in 147 of the 168 countries surveyed, people are better off today than they were ten years ago.

More renewable and electric

The Glasgow summit in November was described in advance as the most important climate summit in many years. Many were disappointed after the meeting, others thought that progress had been made.

But in other areas, 2021 was a year of great progress for the climate fight. Sales of electric cars in the world increased by 80 percent from the previous year. A total of 5.6 million electric cars were sold in 2021, writes Bloomberg.

Renewable energy also took long steps forward. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is known for underestimating the growth in renewable energy. The IEA now estimates that renewables will grow by 60 percent by 2026.

Some countries have already turned away from coal. The UK received 30 percent of its electricity from coal in 2014. By 2020, that number had been reduced to 1.6 percent.

The pandas out of danger

In the 1980s, less than 1,000 pandas lived in freedom. After over 30 years of rescue work could Chinese authorities this summer declare that the panda is no longer threatened.

There are now just under 1,900 pandas living in freedom in China. In addition, over 600 come to zoos around the world.

In addition to the pandas seeming to be doing well in the 67 reserves established in China, the panda’s food also seems to be thriving.

A panda eats 12-38 kilos of bamboo a day. According to National Geographic, new research shows that bamboo is more hardy when it comes to climate change than previously thought.

Thus, it seems that 2021 has been a good year for both the panda and its dishes.

One of the most deadly in the world

Malaria is considered one of the world’s most deadly diseases. Only in 2020 did the disease take over WHO the lives of 627,000 people.

More than 260,000 African children under the age of five die each year from malaria. Africa accounts for 96 percent of all deaths from the disease,

In October, the WHO, following a breakthrough in research, was able to recommend a malaria vaccine to children for the first time.

– The development of the new malaria vaccine this year will in the long run be able to save hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable children in the world. This is a massive step forward, says Save the Children’s general secretary Birgitte Lange to NTB.

Over 9 billion vaccine doses

By the end of 2020, only a few thousand had been vaccinated against covid-19. according to Our World in Data 0.091 percent of the world’s population had received the first dose on 31 December 2020.

At the end of 2021, 9.15 billion doses have been set, 32.09 million doses are set every single day. 58.2 percent of the world’s population has received at least one dose.

The differences are great. In a country like Haiti, just over one percent of the population is vaccinated.

Nevertheless, the covid-19 vaccination program is a historic success. Never before has a vaccine been developed so rapidly and mass-produced at such a pace. And the continent with the largest proportion of vaccinated is not one of the richest, but South America where as many as 76 percent have received at least one dose.

–