The World Over 200 Years

This is a pretty interesting video showing the progression of every country in the world over the last 200 years, accounting for health and income. Overall, the video is very optimistic about the prospects for developing countries. Overall, I agree with what the narrator has to say. Over the last 200 years, living conditions have improved dramatically in most countries. People are living longer, and being more productive, than in the past. If the trend the video predicts is true, why does it seem many people are pessimistic about the prospects of development for many countries? Overall, do we have more reason to be optimistic or pessimistic about the future?
At the end of the video, the narrator touches on the subject of inequalities within regions, focusing on China. Although the topic is mentioned, the issue does not seem to be as important as the overall statistics for countries  Would it be true to argue that inequality within countries is actually a more critical part of overall well-being than the numbers for the whole of the population? I think it would be interesting to see a similar video made with one access representing the Gini value for each country; as GDP may increase overall, inequality may increase quicker, causing a region to become worse off.
One other interesting thing to keep in mind when watching this video is that the axis for wealth is on a logarithmic scale (with $4,000 being the midpoint between $400 and $40,000). At the end of the video, it appears the bulk of the countries sit somewhere in the middle of the chart in regards to wealth. However, most of these countries are much poorer than they appear on the graph.
Despite these few things, I think we have reason to be optimistic about the future of most countries. Overall, conditions are improving around the world, and I think this trend will continue to held true in the upcoming years.

http://www.gapminder.org/videos/200-years-that-changed-the-world-bbc/