Photo: UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan. Credit: UNCTAD
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says on Tuesday a new sets of economic indicators for measuring the prosperity of Nations, will be launched during the UN General Assembly in the spring of 2026.
Accordingly , a High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, mandated by the UN’s landmark Pact for the Future has been tasked with developing recommendations for a set of universally relevant indicators that countries can own and use to guide policy.
UNCTAD serves as co-secretariat to the “Beyond GDP” expert group, alongside other entities including the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the UN Development Programme.
This initiative stems from the urgent need for measures of progress that enable more balanced and integrated pursuit of sustainable development.
GDP does not capture progress in well-being, equity, inclusiveness or sustainability – and it was designed as a measure of economic activity.
“Our approach will emphasize how better well-being and its drivers, such as health, social capital and the quality of the environment, are not only good for societal welfare but also contribute in an integral way to economic prosperity,” the interim report argues.
The “Beyond GDP” agenda, increasingly gaining traction among UN member countries, is about complementing traditional economic measures, rather than replacing them.
To do so, five principles are important.
First, countries need to look at more than GDP to gauge material well-being more accurately.
Second, it takes more than income to capture all aspects of well-being.
Third, when addressing inequality and exclusion it’s necessary to look beyond average figures.
Fourth, the need to think in the long term, to ensure economic, environmental, social and institutional sustainability for future generations.
In addition, well-being is interconnected across countries in today’s world.
This makes cooperation all the more crucial, in setting global norms of measurement, unlimited to specific countries or regions.
