According to the UN, about 12.8 million children died before their fifth birthday in 1990; in 2024 the figure was about 4.9 million, even though the number of births has barely changed. Vaccines, bed nets, oral rehydration and newborn care made the difference. Progress has slowed since 2015, though, and nearly half of these deaths happen in the first month of life.
That's the estimate from a WHO-led study published in The Lancet in 2024, covering the half-century since the Expanded Programme on Immunization was launched in 1974. It works out to about six lives saved every minute, mostly infants. The measles vaccine alone accounts for around 60% of those lives.
According to the World Gold Council, about 216,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in all of human history. Because gold is so dense (19.3 tonnes per cubic metre), it would fit in a cube about 22 metres on each side, roughly the height of a seven-storey building. Strikingly, about two-thirds of it has been mined since 1950.