So I need to note that my response is mostly pulled the Dictator ' s Handbook by Alastair Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita . It ' s an excellent book and if you want to learn more about governance and how it really works , I ' d highly suggest giving it a read or listen on audible . Or also watch the recent CGP Grey YouTube video based on itrStL 7 niR 7 gsFirst , from your comments , it seems like you ' re mostly talking about the US , but your title says All humans . , so I ' ll go with that interpretation . This is an important distinction because the US and other democracies differ greatly from other , less democratic countries around the world , so the method of tackling this problem here would be very different from tackling it in , say , North Korea , which is more authoritarian and the common people have a much lower standard of living to start with . So , a quick primer on this distinction . The reason dictatorships are generally worse places to live is because the leader ' s power depends on a small group of essential backers , so the ruler ' s main goal is to reward his backers and keep them loyal . This can include the military , government authorities , etc . but the majority common people are left out . In a democracy , pretty much all voters count as the essential backers , so the candidates have to create policies that most of the people like , making it a better place to live again , generalizing here watch the video or read the bookSome people said it would cost too much or that we wouldn ' t have enough money , but I don ' t think that ' s the problem . The US alone spends 31 . 08 billion with a B on foreign aid . This isn ' t a huge part of the US ' s GDP less than 1 %, but it ' s still A LOT of money . It should be bringing about better outcomes . People often measure success by how much money has been spent rather than the actual outcomes that money provides . What often happens is that the people from the countries that receive the most US aid tend to be the ones that hate the US the most . Why is that ? Because the most impoverished countries are ones whose governments are most corrupt dictators . Often times , that money gets funneled to or confiscated by the government , which only rewards its essential backers , the common people are left in the dust , and the aid only serves to further a corrupt regime . My point is , providing these basic liberties is mostly a matter of making the particular country more democratic I use the term democratic loosely because there can be different kinds and mixtures of democracies and dictatorships . We need to change the incentives for the leader from providing for the few to providing for the many . However , there are some real barriers to this , including the way democratic countries go about making foreign policy how foreign aid is distributed . I don ' t know what the answer here is , but I know spending more money isn ' t it .