If you have democracy, people will vote for washing machines. They love them!

Rosling’s line uses the washing machine as a vivid stand-in for the everyday benefits of development. The point is that when people have political voice, they tend to prioritize practical improvements that reduce drudgery and expand opportunity—especially technologies that save time and labor in the home. It also pushes back against romanticized ideas that the poor primarily want grand ideological projects; instead, they often want the same conveniences and dignity that wealthier societies take for granted. In Rosling’s broader work, such examples support his argument that material progress (health, education, infrastructure, household technology) is central to human well-being and is widely desired across cultures.