The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects offered gloomy forecasts for GDP growth in the coming five years. If we suspend disbelief and accept the forecasts as accurate, global living standards should do better than the World Bank forecasts imply. Swathes of the world economy have declining populations, meaning headline GDP does a poor job of reflecting living standards. Structural change increases efficiency, and those efficiency gains may go to improving impact economy standards (the environment, work-life balance, etc.) rather than the crude output metrics of GDP.