A study published in The Lancet in 2010 analysed 175 countries over four decades: about half of the drop in child mortality between 1970 and 2009 could be linked to women spending longer in education. Better-educated mothers vaccinate more, spot signs of illness earlier and often have fewer, better-spaced children. It's a domino effect across generations.
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.