Why CivStat

Is humanity actually getting better? We turn 7,000 years of open data into one score you can check.

01
Measure
Six dimensions, computed from published indicators
02
Compare values
Five lenses show how values change the verdict
03
Watch the risk
The score and its fragility, side by side

Vision: a shared, honest scoreboard for civilization — updated every month.

State of civilization2026

Civilization Score 60.8 / 100

up 23 points since 1900, and fragility is lower.

Civilization Score · higher is better

60.8Provisional · ± 2

▲ 23.2 vs 1900

Civilization Fragility · lower is safer

41.3Provisional · ± 2

▼ 1.1 vs 1900

Compared with

Last 15y: score −0.7 · fragility +7.3

What's driving it

Score out of 100 · change vs 1900

Peace59.4 −5
Welfare77.4 +49
Knowledge65.7 +56
Freedom45.6 +32
Sustainability39.5 −44
Cooperation77.2 +53

Viewing year2026CE

01Trajectory

The long arc

Progress against systemic risk over 2,000 years. Key turning points are marked; tap a line to focus it.

1900 → 2026

Civilization Score

Fragility

Shaded = sparse data

Navigate

Turning points in view · with sources

15

How to read

The solid green line is the Civilization Score (higher is better); the dashed orange line is Civilization Fragility (lower is safer). The grey shading before 1900 marks centuries with thin records, where values are estimates — read the broad sweep there, not the small wiggles.

Diamonds at the bottom are turning points (wars, inventions, treaties); the buttons above zoom into an era.

What it shows

From 32.5 in year 0 to 34.1 in 1800, the score barely moved for eighteen centuries. Then it went from 37.6 in 1900 to 60.8 in 2026 — more change in a little over a century than in everything before it.

Over the same span, life expectancy rose from 38 to 74 years and child deaths fell from 350 to 35 per 1,000. It was never a straight line: 1914 alone cost 2.9 points, and Fragility, after 52.5 in 1945 and 33.8 in 2008, has climbed back to 41.3.

The lesson

Progress is not a trend that accumulates by itself; it is the sum of institutions and technologies that people built — and it can unravel as fast. The score and Fragility can rise together: a civilization that has more can also lose more. That is the chart's most important warning.

A question for you

What do you rely on today that someone in 1926 could not have imagined? What would it take to make sure the next generation still has it?

How fast it’s changing

Average change in Civilization Score per century, before and after industrialisation.

Change in Civilization Score per century — above zero means improving

1.1
Pre-industrial avg / century: 26.4
Great Acceleration avg / century: 25×
Acceleration factor

ImprovingDeclining

Then vs now

The indicators that moved furthest across their own historical range.

1975 CE → 2026 CE

Post-War→Information Age

54
improved: 22
declined: 0
stable

Biggest shifts

Bar = then → now on each indicator's own scale (● = now; counts on a log scale) · pp = percentage points

Internet+73.5 pp

Telecom+8.88 B subs

Refugees+113.1 M

LGBTQ+ Rights+41.5 pts

Scientific Publications+4.74 millions/year

Health Expenditure+1,215 $/cap

Internet saw the largest gain (+73.5 pp). Refugees shifted most unfavorably (+113.1 M).

How to read

The left chart is not the score itself but its speed: points gained or lost per century. Above zero, things were improving in that period; below, they were going backwards.

On the right, each indicator shows where it moved within its own historical range between the two years.

What it shows

Most of the dips below zero are the world wars, the Depression, and — recently — the pandemic and a rise in conflict. Armed conflicts went from 40 in 2000 to 65 today, and refugees from 21.1 million to 118.6 million.

Notice that the biggest improvement and the biggest decline sit side by side in the same era.

The lesson

“Better on average” is not “better for everyone”. Periods of fast progress have usually been periods of fast risk too. When you look at speed, ask not only what accelerated, but who or what paid for it.

A question for you

Pick one indicator on the right that got worse. Who does it affect most?

02Dimensions

Six dimensions

Peace, welfare, knowledge, freedom, sustainability and cooperation — each on its own scale.

Peace59.4

Peace = 100 − conflict · range 42–75 since 0 CE

Welfare77.4

range 8–77 since 0 CE

Knowledge65.7

range 3–66 since 0 CE

Freedom45.6

range 5–48 since 0 CE

Sustainability39.5

range 39–96 since 0 CE

Cooperation77.2

range 6–79 since 0 CE

How each era changed

The six dimensions at five moments in history. Outer = better on every axis.

Compare now with

1800· estimate2026· Provisional+/− = change since then

Biggest change: Cooperation +39 (1950→2000)

Change per era (points)

	→1900	→1950	→2000	→2026
Peace	+5	−13	+14	−6
Welfare	+10	+13	+24	+12
Knowledge	+2	+13	+19	+23
Freedom	+4	+8	+22	+2
Sustainability	−8	−9	−21	−14
Cooperation	+9	+5	+39	+8

Shape of the year

All six dimensions at once, against a past year.

1975(past)→2026(current)

How the score is built

76 indicators, 33 of them scored → 6 dimensions. Open one to see what feeds it.

How to read

The Civilization Score is the average of six dimensions — welfare, knowledge, freedom, peace, sustainability and cooperation. Every small chart uses the same 0–100 scale, so they can be compared directly.

The same average can hide very different shapes: look at the balance, not just the number.

What it shows

Welfare (77.4) and knowledge (65.7) are the highest they have ever been. Sustainability, meanwhile, has fallen from 83.7 in 1900 to 39.5 — the only dimension in steady decline.

Freedom peaked at 47.6 in 2012 and has slipped to 45.6. Much of what we gained was drawn from the planet’s reserves.

The lesson

When success in one dimension is paid for by another, it is closer to a transfer than to progress. A good civilization may be the one that lifts its lowest score, not the one with the highest.

A question for you

Which of the six matters most to you? If you weighted it more heavily, would you still say civilization is getting better?

03Planet

Planetary boundaries

Nine Earth-system limits. Progress built past these lines is borrowed, not earned.

Source: Stockholm Resilience Centre, Planetary Health Check 2025

7/9limits crossed

Biosphere Integrity
High risk
Extinction rate 100-1000x background
Biogeochemical Flows
High risk
Nitrogen & phosphorus flows exceed safe limits
Novel Entities
High risk
Plastics, PFAS, and novel chemicals exceed safe levels
Climate Change
High risk
CO₂ at 424 ppm (boundary: 350 ppm)
Land-System Change
Over limit
75% of ice-free land significantly altered
Freshwater Change
Over limit
Green & blue water boundaries transgressed
Ocean Acidification
Over limit
Aragonite saturation below the 80%-of-pre-industrial boundary (Planetary Health Check 2025)
Atmospheric Aerosols
Within limit
Regional concerns but globally within bounds
Stratospheric Ozone
Within limit
Recovering since Montreal Protocol (1987)

Safe limitBar = safe operating space left (100 = pre-industrial). A bar that stops short of the line has crossed the limit.

How to read

Planetary boundaries mark the conditions of the last 10,000 years in which human societies grew up; crossing one risks changes that are hard to reverse. Red areas are already beyond the line; green ones are still within it.

Read a boundary as the point where risk starts to climb, not as a date for catastrophe.

What it shows

Atmospheric CO₂ has gone from 296 ppm in 1900 to 426 ppm, and temperature is 1.4°C above pre-industrial. The Living Planet Index (1970 = 100) is down to 27.

Seven of the nine boundaries are already crossed. Only aerosols and the ozone layer — recovering since the 1987 Montreal Protocol — remain in the safe zone.

The lesson

Ozone is proof that when people trust the science and act together, even a planet-scale problem can be turned around. The other eight have not been, not for lack of knowledge, but because no one has agreed who pays for acting.

A question for you

Why has the Montreal Protocol’s kind of shared “stop” not yet happened for climate?

04Indicators

All 76 indicators

The raw data behind every score, with source and change over time.

Change since2010 → 2026 · 76 shown

War Deaths

Lower is better

per 100k

2

Worse▲ 0.8 since 2010

Range: 1.2–2.12010–2025

Internal Conflict

Lower is better

count

65

Worse▲ 34 since 2010

Range: 31–652010–2025

Institutions

Higher is better

count

246

Better▲ 25 since 2010

Range: 221–2462010–2025

Trade Volume

Higher is better

% GDP

58.1

Better▲ 1.91 since 2010

Range: 51.9–62.22010–2025

Cultural Exchange

Higher is better

index

77

Better▲ 8 since 2010

Range: 69–772010–2025

Life Expectancy

Higher is better

years

73.9

Better▲ 3.17 since 2010

Range: 70.7–73.92010–2025

Education

Higher is better

%

90.1

Better▲ 1.47 since 2010

Range: 88.6–90.12010–2025

Poverty

Lower is better

%

10

Better▼ 11 since 2010

Range: 10–212010–2025

Democracy

Higher is better

ratio

0.61

Worse▼ 0.01 since 2010

Range: 0.6–0.632010–2025

Resilience

Higher is better

index

75

Better▲ 9 since 2010

Range: 66–752010–2025

Child Mortality

Lower is better

per 1000

35

Better▼ 15.6 since 2010

Range: 35–50.62010–2025

Urbanization

Not scored — size, not good or bad

%

57.8

Context▲ 6.07 since 2010

Range: 51.8–57.82010–2025

How to read

Each card is one raw indicator that feeds the score. Colour means better (green) or worse (orange); follow the source link to check the original data.

Some indicators are better when higher (life expectancy), some when lower (child mortality), and some are neutral context (population).

What it shows

Extreme poverty has fallen from 60% in 1900 to 10% in 2018. Nuclear warheads fell from 64,449 in 1986 to 12,121 — still enough to end civilization many times over.

Humanity’s greatest achievement and its greatest risk sit on the same screen.

The lesson

Indicators light up only part of reality. What is not measured — dignity, trust, meaning — is missing from this list, not from the world. Numbers are where judgement starts, not where it ends.

A question for you

What indicator is missing from this list that should be here? How would you measure it?