Conventional wisdom suggests times are worse than ever before. The data suggests otherwise:

Child deaths steep decline: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/17/upshot/child-mortality.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Decline in starvation: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/19/577659864/author-todays-famines-arent-as-bad-as-you-think-they-are

Steven Pinker’s study: least violent period in history: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/17/upshot/child-mortality.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Graph of dropping world violent death rate: https://slides.ourworldindata.org/war-and-violence/#/1

US Murder Rate: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-u-s-murder-rate-is-up-but-still-far-below-its-1980-peak/

Rising suicide rate: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db330.htm