This is basically wrong, by almost every material measure.
So the question then becomes, why do so many feel this way?
I didn't realize that tons of people felt that way about life until I started reading forums etc.
It's hard to explain but it's possible that people don't have a basis of comparison - they weren't alive 50 years ago, or those what were, know we are materially better off. Even the 'complainers' know that 'heart bypass' 25 years ago was a major, dangerous operation, but now a lot of it is trivial.
If you are living in Europe, consider that 2 generations ago 1/2 of it was flattened by bombs. That 6 million were executed. 10's of millions dead. If you were male, aged 18-30, probably a 20% chance you'd die in war. A greater chance you'd lose maybe everything.
So just from that ... 'things are unequivocally better'.
At the start of the last century there was no health care insurance (save maybe German government officials). Most medical operations were amputations, and we didn't have antibiotics so you would probably die of that, or any other thing.
My father did not have plumbing or electricity when he was born! Only as a child did they get that, and they were the first in town to get it, i.e. not poor.
Very few people had cars back in the day, and they were dangerous and crap. Now everyone has them.
Flying was for rich people, now working class people can fly.
The number of hours we work is down. Working conditions are considerably safer. Men and women have career choices never heard of. Homes are way bigger. Everyone has air conditioning (which nobody had until a generation ago, and then it was a luxury).
My god man, just the produce available to us - amazing fruits and vegetables all year around! That's a new things.
Any kind of music, entertainment, at your fingertips!
Any number of electronic wizardly and time-saving things.
You can contact anyone in the world with a thing that sits in your pocket! This would have 'blown my mind' (and everyone else's) just 25 years ago, when I was a kid.
Major wars have stopped, the cold war is over, even with the 2007 downturn we have very good economic stability. In previous recessions a lot of people starved!
If you're gay, you can be that now. Even get married.
I could go on and on.
So there are many things that we need to look out for, and I feel we lack a lot of social cohesion and community - but materially, most things are good - and will be.
FYI - 'deflation' is not just prices going down, it can cause economic 'death spirals' - it's just just a number. And population evaporation has some other, culturally existential spooky things such as extinction of culture, which is scary. Though I don't think that will happen.
Also - going from 3x workers for every 1 retired, to 1 worker for every 3 retired is a hugely existential economic thing. It will be a problem to address.