OVERVIEW OF SELECTED INDICATORS “BEYOND GDP”
This page identifies just a few of the key approaches and indicators discussed at the Beyond GDP conference.
The conference also identified areas where policy making processes can include such measures and where more regular reporting can help improve public awareness of progress, true wealth and well-being.
General approaches
Adjusted GDP
Environmental accounts
Quality of life measures
Featured indicators
Human Development Index
Ecological Footprint
Genuine Savings
● ● ● General approaches
Adjusted GDP
Efforts to calculate an adjusted GDP are the most ambitious efforts to offer a GDP-like calculation that accounts for environmental and/or social aspects not captured in GDP calculations. Notable efforts include the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) and the Genuine Progress Indicator. The ISEW is calculated by adjusting the conventional national income accounts (GDP) through the subtraction of social and environmental costs, and the addition of the value of non-market productive activity, such as volunteer work and child rearing. Various related measures have been calculated by NGOs and think tanks and indices have been calculated for several countries. The ISEW was originally developed in 1989 by Herman Daly and John Cobb. The Genuine Progress Indicator, developed by the non-profit organisation Redefining Progress, starts with GDP, then adds productive non-market economic activity (e.g. household work) and subtracts other factors (e.g. pollution and crime).
Useful links:
Friends of the Earth, “Measuring progress: international examples”
Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)
Environmental accounts
- UN, OECD, Eurostat and national governmentsThe work of economist Robert Repetto and the World Resources Institute in the 1980s was key in drawing attention to the need for environmental accounting. The SEEA 1993 (System of Economic-Environmental Accounting) represented the first international handbook on environmental accounting. Revised in 2003, SEEA maintains three categories of accounts:
- physical and hybrid flow accounts;
- environmental protection and management flow accounts; and
- asset accounts in physical and monetary terms.
The currently applied approach of environmental accounting is less ambitious. Environmental Accounts, principally designed as "satellite accounts" that accompany the System of National Accounts, track the interaction between the environment and the economy in detail, but only in a few cases show results in monetary terms. Data availability is slowly increasing and although Environmental Accounts provide a wealth of detailed statistics for analytical purposes (and other indicator concepts), data availability is not yet sufficient to deliver a headline indicator.
Useful links:
Eurostat’s Environmental Accounts - Satellite Accounts to the National Accounts
The London Group (Environmental Accounts)
UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting
Quality of life measures
- Eurofound and various research teamsResearch on ‘quality of life’ goes beyond economic and environmental statistics and includes surveys to gather information directly from individuals. Various indices for quality of life have been developed by different research teams. The aim is to monitor the state and development of quality of life for different countries and various social groups. Moreover, these studies seek correlations among different aspects of socio-economic data to identify drivers for well-being and happiness.
Useful links:
Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators
Canadian Index of Wellbeing
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
The Happy Planet Index
World Database of Happiness
● ● ● Featured indicators
Human Development Index (HDI)
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)The Human Development Index (HDI) was developed to measure progress in developing countries beyond purely monetary figures such as GDP. Since 1993, HDI has been used in the Human Development Reports to compare the development of nations world-wide. Three key elements of development are a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living. Therefore data on life expectancy, adult literacy, school enrolment and GDP are combined to calculate the index. In 2006 Norway scored highest (0.965). At the other end of the scale, there are a few developing countries with a HDI near 0.3. The Human Development Reports also use the Gender Related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) to report on gender inequality.
Useful link:
Human Development Index, Gender Related Development Index, and Gender Empowerment Measure
Ecological Footprint (EF)
- WWF and the Global Footprint NetworkThe Ecological Footprint measures one crucial aspect of environmental sustainability: the use and possible overexploitation of biological resources like forests and fisheries, grass and croplands. It estimates the 'carrying capacity' of the planet and compares it with human consumption. The figures show that since the mid-1980s humanity’s footprint is larger then the planet's carrying capacity. The unit of measurement is the 'global hectare'. While 1.8 global hectares per person are available world-wide, Europeans use 4.9 global hectares per person and North Americans use twice that amount. The Ecological Footprint methodology is mainly used by green NGOs and by local authorities. An international campaign by the Global Footprint Network seeks to have national governments adopt this metric as an official statistic.
Useful links:
Ecological Footprint
Living Planet Index
Genuine Savings (Adjusted Net Savings)
- World BankThe basic idea behind ’genuine savings’ is that only net savings increase wealth. While the standard System of National Accounts only shows changes in physical capital, (i.e. man-made assets like machinery and infrastructure), 'genuine savings' strive to include the natural, environmental and human capital as a source of wealth. Thus far, only a few component variables can be factored into the equation. Expenditures for education are added, while depletion of sub-soil assets and forests, and damage by carbon dioxide and particulate matter are subtracted. The World Bank calculates these figures for most countries, which are given in percentage of GNI (Gross National Income). One main finding is that some countries have actually become poorer while at the same time increasing their GDP. This is caused by a failure to compensate the depletion of natural resources by either reconstituting their natural capital or investing in human capital.
Useful link:
Genuine Savings
