That who is talking about?
The article says life has improved dramatically for the majority of the Earth. Louisswiss is disappointed it doesn't prove the improvements will continue. Epistasis says they only show signs of increasing. You say you shouldn't use global averages to judge the condition of average people. I'm going to assume you meant median people, because otherwise your argument is nonsensical. Even so, the data in the article directly addresses your concern and demonstrates that the median person's situation on Earth is improving dramatically. That was my point.
After all that, Trump? What? The world's middle-rich (median Americans) are not getting richer on the schedule we all expected. That's an issue. But, it's not the current topic.
The point being discussed is that people have such a short-sighted view of the world. And, that view is distorted by fear-mongering media (TV's click bait). This leads people to a strong belief that the world is getting worse in contradiction to all data.
It seems that some people cannot be happy without bad news. 5 billion people doing so much better. And, much of that affects the other 4 billion as well. But, in the face of good news, you always see a people climbing over each other to declare "Sure... Maybe that's good. But, give me a second and I'll find something that's still bad somewhere!"
