EDITORIAL: The world gets richer

EDITORIAL: The world gets richer Polls indicate that a significant share of Americans, especially younger respondents, hold an unfavorable view of free‑market capitalism. A recent Gallup survey found that only 54 percent of participants expressed a positive sentiment toward the economic system. Nevertheless, many of capitalism’s most vocal critics overlook the substantial evidence of its achievements. The Food and Agriculture Organization released its annual study on global hunger this period. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 reports continued progress in reducing malnutrition worldwide. According to the report, 7.8 percent of the world’s population was undernourished in 2025, down from 35 percent in 1970—a remarkable decline over the intervening decades. In the United States, Canada, Europe, and East Asia, the proportion of undernourished residents stands at just 2.5 percent. Hunger remains prevalent chiefly in war‑torn nations where conflict is routine, particularly across the Middle East and parts of Africa. These figures align with data on global poverty. Our World in Data notes that since 1990, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen by 1.5 billion: “This means, on any average day over the past 35 years, roughly 115,000 people have escaped extreme poverty.” Improvements have occurred worldwide not because of central planning, socialism, or government intervention, but precisely the opposite. The primary driver behind the dramatic drops in hunger and extreme poverty has been economic growth, fueled in large part by many nations loosening restrictions on the free exchange of goods and services. “Capitalism has done much to alleviate hunger and poverty than any other strategy in world history,” Rainer Zitelmann, a historian and sociologist, wrote recently for the Adam Smith Institute. “The most devastating man‑made famines of the past 100 years each occurred under socialism—in the 1930s alone, according to a range of estimates, between 5 million and 9 million people died in the Soviet Union from famines caused by the socialist collectivisation of agriculture.” Zitelmann also points out that before the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism, roughly 90 percent of the world’s population lived in poverty. It is likewise important to note that the economic liberty and prosperity brought by capitalism are closely tied to property rights and political freedom. The twentieth century demonstrated that depriving citizens of economic freedom is a hallmark of totalitarian regimes; consider North Korea or Cuba today. Statistics on hunger and poverty reveal that the world has achieved substantial gains in recent decades despite dire predictions from progressive doomsayers about widespread famine and collapse. Much work remains, but the prescriptions offered by today’s modern advocates of socialism with a friendly face would only hinder progress and make further advancement far more difficult.