Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the limitations of gross domestic product (GDP) as the sole measure of a nation's welfare, noting that GDP overlooks factors such as unpaid work, inequality, and environmental costs. He explained that GDP is often used to assess long-term national success, despite its inability to account for the diverse vulnerabilities and challenges countries face.
Guterres also emphasized the growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI), which can drive growth and productivity but also poses risks, including job losses and weaponization. This underscores the need for more comprehensive metrics beyond GDP to evaluate complex effects.
Building on decades of research, the UN launched a High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, which released a report titled "Counting What Counts." The report offers a global framework advocating broader measures to guide policymaking and better reflect what people and the planet value.
The initiative does not dismiss GDP as a measure of economic output but stresses that it was never meant to comprehensively gauge wellbeing. The report aims to provide governments with a practical agenda to adopt a wider set of indicators for sustainable development and social progress.