For the first time since the dawn of human civilization, most people in the world aren't living in poverty. That's what a September study from the Brookings Institution, reported by Axios on Tuesday, found after analyzing the share of people who are either poor or vulnerable to falling into poverty. The tipping point arrived last month, when 3.8 billion people could be considered "middle class" or "rich," the analysis concluded. "Barring some unfortunate global economic setback, this marks the start of a new era of a middle-class majority," the study authors wrote.