Isn't the news depressing right now? The rise of populist, nationalist demagogues like Trump, the loss of public faith in key institutions, attacks on science and reason, and the return to isolationism appear to be reversing the advances of liberalism.

But the media's understandable and necessary focus on day-to-day news means it's easy to overlook positive longer-term global developments in areas like reducing extreme poverty, cutting child mortality rates and improving literacy. 

Max Roser, a researcher at Oxford University, has put together a history of global living conditions in five charts. Share this with someone depressed by the news. It might just make their day.