Priorities
The world's biggest problems, ranked by how solvable they are
Sorted with David Deutsch's optimism principle: problems are soluble β anything not forbidden by the laws of nature is achievable, given the right knowledge. So the honest question for each problem is whether the knowledge already exists. Where it does, only will and money stand between us and the win. Within each group, the worsening problems come first.
β
Solution known β the gap is will, not knowledge
Humanity already has proven tools against these. What's missing is funding and attention, which makes them the fastest wins on Earth.
ποΈβ Worsening
Refugees & Displacement
Roughly 120 million people are forcibly displaced β the most ever recorded
Proven tools2/3
πβ Worsening
Ocean Health
Roughly 8β11 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year; over a third of fish stocks are overfished
Proven tools2/3
πβ Mixed
Hunger & Malnutrition
Roughly 700 million people are undernourished; undernutrition underlies nearly half of child deaths
Proven tools2/3
πβ Mixed
Education Gaps
Roughly 250 million children and youth are out of school; most in-school children in poor countries can't read a simple story by age 10
Proven tools2/3
π β Mixed
Homelessness
Rough global estimates: ~150 million people homeless; over 1.5 billion in inadequate housing
Proven tools2/3
πβ Mixed
Road Traffic Deaths
Roughly 1.2 million deaths a year β the leading killer of people aged 5 to 29
Proven tools3/3
πβ Improving
Extreme Poverty
Roughly 800 million people live on less than $3.00 a day
Proven tools2/3
π¦β Improving
Malaria
Roughly 600,000 deaths a year β most of them children under five
Proven tools2/3
πΆβ Improving
Child Mortality
Roughly 5 million children under five die each year β most from preventable causes
Proven tools3/3
ποΈβ Improving
Preventable Blindness
Roughly 1 billion people have vision impairment that could be prevented or corrected
Proven tools3/3
π€°β Improving
Maternal Mortality
Roughly 260,000β290,000 women die each year from pregnancy and childbirth β almost all preventably
Proven tools3/3
π¬β Improving
Tobacco
Roughly 8 million deaths a year β the world's leading preventable cause of death
Proven tools2/3
ποΈβ Improving
HIV / AIDS
Roughly 630,000 deaths a year, and about 40 million people living with HIV
Proven tools3/3
πͺ±β Improving
Neglected Tropical Diseases
Over 1 billion people are affected by diseases most people have never heard of
Proven tools2/3
𧩠Partly solved β strong leads, open gaps
At least one proven tool exists, but key pieces of the solution are still being worked out.
πβ Worsening
Loneliness & Mental Health
Roughly 1 in 4 adults worldwide report feeling very or fairly lonely; depression and anxiety are leading causes of disability
Proven tools1/3
πβ Worsening
Factory Farming
Roughly 80+ billion land animals are slaughtered yearly β most raised in intensive confinement
Proven tools1/3
π‘οΈβ Mixed
Climate Change
The planet is roughly 1.3Β°C warmer than pre-industrial times; emissions must fall steeply this decade
Proven tools1/3
π¨β Mixed
Air Pollution
Roughly 7β8 million premature deaths a year β more than malaria, HIV and traffic accidents combined
Proven tools1/3
π«β Mixed
Tuberculosis
Roughly 1.25 million deaths a year β the world's deadliest infectious disease
Proven tools1/3
ποΈβ Mixed
Corruption
Bribery alone is estimated at roughly $1 trillion a year; corruption drains several percent of global GDP
Proven tools1/3
π§β Improving
Unsafe Water & Sanitation
Roughly 2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water
Proven tools1/3
βοΈβ Improving
Gender Inequality
Roughly 12 million girls are married as children each year; over 230 million girls and women alive today were cut
Proven tools1/3
π§ͺβ Improving
Lead Poisoning
Roughly 1 in 3 children worldwide has blood lead levels high enough to harm their development
Proven tools1/3
πΆβ Improving
Digital Exclusion
Roughly 2.6 billion people β a third of humanity β remain offline
Proven tools1/3
π¬ Knowledge frontier β solutions still to be created
No fully proven playbook yet. Progress here means creating new knowledge: research, experiments, better institutions.