Human history is full of horrific events.
No single decade comes to mind as being a great time to live.
Granted there are always lucky people such as myself that have never experienced war, famine and destitution.
Okay here are my top 3.
1960's: A time of great social change particularly in the treatment of people of ethnic minorities. It was also the time of Martin Luthor King Junior. The first ever episode of Dr Who (my favourite science fiction shows include Classic Who and New Who). Oh and first man on the moon! What a fantastic decade!
1630's: because of the discovery of modern integral methods that have greatly advanced sciences.
Current decade: Higgs Boson, Three Parent Child IVF, great advances to the study of cancer, better understanding of HIV and AIDS, legalisation of same sex marriage, landing a probe on a comet! So much good happened in this decade and it's not even over.
Sure there is all the nasty stuff like recession and terrorism, but if you're a scientist, this is a truly amazing time to be alive. Pretty much every day there has been a scientific breakthrough. Oh and thumbs up to same sex marriage! 