The non-British curves in figure 8-2 tell of a second astonishing chapter in the story of prosperity: starting in the late 20th century, poor countries have been escaping from poverty in their turn. The Great Escape is becoming the Great Convergence. Countries that until recently were miserably poor have become comfortably rich, such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Steven Pinker, Enlightenment now: the case for reason, science, humanism, and progress, New York, 2018, p. 85