Canadian Politics Today

Go here and click on "Your life in numbers" at the top to see how things have changed since you were born.

http://humanprogress.org/blog

You can even compare against other countries.

Other than that, check out these charts: http://www.businessinsider.com/human-progress-charts-2011-3

No doubt that this is thanks to knowledge and open societies (free trade, movements of smart people) rather than prayer, crusades and inquisitions.