Female Genital Mutilation

http://aplus.com/a/nigeria-bans-genital-mutilation?so=863e-aa69-101d2-d17b

Divorces Fell by 20% Since 2002

According to official statistics, the number of divorces in England & Wales fell from 147,735 in 2002 to 118,140 in 2012. That's a drop of 20% in ten years:

Source: ONS

In fact it's down from a high of 165,018 in the early 1990s.

Add to that the number of people who can now get married for the first tome thanks to same sex marriages and you could say that the institution of marriage is experiencing somewhat of a resurgence. There were 10,000 new civil civil partnerships in 2006 alone following it's introduction, for example.

Still Births Have Fallen Drastically Since 1927

The death of a baby is amongst the most tragic and heartbreaking thing for any individual to bear. The definition of a stillbirth is any baby born after 24 or more weeks completed gestation that did not, at any time, breathe or show signs of life.

Thankfully, such events are increasingly rare. According to official statistics the number of stillbirths in the late 1920s and early 1930s was as high as 42 per 1000 births. Nowadays, it's fewer than 6 per 1000 births:

Source: ONS

That amounted to a staggering 28,000 stillbirths per year compared to fewer than 4,000 today, even more amazing taking into account that the population of the UK was two thirds of what it was now.

Note the huge drop in stillbirths thanks to the introduction of the NHS in 1948. Those seeking to dismantle the NHS would do well to heed that as a warning of the effects of removing people's access to free healthcare.

Marked Improvement in Weather Reporting Accuracy Since 1980

The much maligned weather man gets a raw deal, it would seem. The accuracy of weather reports is improving steadily thanks to multi-million pound super computing installations that can more accurately model the weather patterns.

The following graph shows how, since 1980, the 3 day forecast has improved from around 85% to just under 100%. Likewise, the ten day forecast has improved from just 30% in 1995 to around 45%:

Source: BBC

As the BBC report puts it, overall, the accuracy of the forecast has improved hugely over the last four decades. Our current five-day forecast is as good as our three-day forecast was about 20 years ago. Our useful forecast window has increased by an extra day every 10 years.