Bill Gates warns the world is going ‘backwards’ and gives 5-year deadline before we enter a new Dark Age
Last year didn’t go the way Bill Gates hoped. As a philanthropist who has dedicated billions to improving everything from healthcare and education in poor countries to climate change action, Gates could only watch as the Trump administration slashed swathes of foreign aid contracts.
The Microsoft co-founder has criticised the cost-cutting regime, much of which was enacted under Elon Musk’s Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He warned the action could directly result in the death of children, a claim which Tesla CEO Musk demanded evidence.
Writing in his annual letter this year, the Gates Foundation founder was optimistic but candid, writing: “I believe the world will keep improving—but it is harder to see that today than it has been in a long time.”
He added: “The thing I am most upset about is the fact that the world went backwards last year on a key metric of progress: the number of deaths of children under five years old. Over the last 25 years, those deaths went down faster than at any other point in history. But in 2025, they went up for the first time this century, from 4.6 million in 2024 to 4.8 million in 2025—an increase driven by less support from rich countries to poor countries.”
Last month the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Report revealed an additional 12.5 million child deaths could occur by 2045 if development assistance for health (including government spending) is reduced by 20% from 2024 levels, according to bespoke modelling based on data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
“Friends and colleagues often ask me how I stay optimistic in an era with so many challenges and so much polarization,” Gates wrote. “My answer is this: I am still an optimist because I see what innovation accelerated by artificial intelligence will bring.”
But, that optimism comes with a deadline, or as Gates puts it “there are footnotes to my optimism.”
“The next five years will be difficult as we try to get back on track and work to scale up new lifesaving tools,” Gates continued. “As hard as last year was, I don’t believe we will slide back into the Dark Ages.”
“I believe that, within the next decade, we will not only get the world back on track but enter a new era of unprecedented progress.”
Funding the gaps
In 2025, Gates announced his $200 billion moonshot: He was donating “virtually all [his] wealth”—about $100 billion—to his foundation. It was the largest philanthropic commitment in modern history, and came with strings attached. The funds (made up of its current endowment and projected growth) must be spent in the next 20 years.
While Gates made the announcement this year, his intentions have been clear for many years. In 2010 Gates, his wife at the time Melinda French Gates, and Berkshire Hathaway co-founder Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge, making a public commitment to philanthropy, which has since been signed by the likes of philanthropist Mackenzie Scott and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.
In a bid to bridge a gap in government funding, Gates is calling on fellow wealthy philanthropists. He wrote: “This idea of treating others as you wish to be treated does not just apply to rich countries giving aid. It must also include philanthropy from the wealthy to help those in need—both domestically and globally—which should grow rapidly in a world with a record number of billionaires and even centibillionaires.”
A report on billionaires from Oxfam, released most recently in January 2025, revealed that in 2024, the number of billionaires rose to 2,769, up from 2,565 a year prior. It also said it expects at least five people to reach trillionaire status a decade from now.
Gates added: “I know cuts won’t be reversed overnight, even though aid represented less than 1% of GDP even in the most generous countries. But it is critical that we restore some of the funding.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com