Ashby Daniels

The progress we don't see

It’s hard to “see” progress because progress is often defined by the number of people who aren’t dying of cancer or heart disease, who aren't starving, or who aren’t living in the dark without electricity (among other things).

We don’t see that kind of progress because we’re focused on the people still suffering, and so it looks like very little is changing.

But rest assured, progress is being made. As just one example, look at the chart below. The five-year relative survival rate for US cancer patients rose from 49% for those diagnosed in 1975–1979 to 71% for those diagnosed in 2016–2022, according to the American Association for Cancer Research’s 2026 Cancer Progress Report (h/t Human Progress).

Dot chart comparing US five-year relative cancer survival rates for patients diagnosed in 1975–1979 and 2016–2022. All cancers combined rose from 49% to 71%. Chronic myeloid leukemia rose from 21% to 71%, prostate from 69% to 98%, kidney from 51% to 79%, lung from 13% to 29%, and pancreas from 3% to 14%. For children and teens (ages 0–19), all cancers combined rose from 63% to 86%, lymphoid leukemia from 57% to 90%, and acute myeloid leukemia from 21% to 72%.
Five-year relative survival rates for US cancer patients diagnosed in 1975–1979 vs. 2016–2022, all ages and pediatric. American Association for Cancer Research, Cancer Progress Report 2026.

Progress is always being made somewhere, somehow. We just need to take a second to notice.