A high-level expert group appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General has submitted a groundbreaking report, advocating for a shift in how global progress is measured. The report proposes moving beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to a comprehensive dashboard of 31 indicators, designed to reflect a more accurate and holistic picture of societal well-being and sustainability.
The recommendation comes amidst growing concerns that GDP, while a widely accepted measure of economic output, fails to capture critical aspects of development such as persistent inequality, environmental degradation, and declining public trust. For decades, GDP growth has been treated as the primary benchmark of progress, yet its limitations have become increasingly apparent.
A New Framework for Global Progress
The High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, established in May 2025 and co-chaired by Kaushik Basu of Cornell University and Nora Lustig of El Colegio de Mexico, structured its proposed dashboard around four core components:
- Foundational Principles: Emphasizing peace, human rights, and respect for the planet.
- Current Well-being: Measuring people's lived experiences across domains like material conditions, work, health, education, security, subjective well-being, social cohesion, quality of institutions, and environmental quality.
- Equity and Inclusion: Assessing fairness and participation within society.
- Sustainability and Resilience: Evaluating a society's capacity to endure and thrive over time.
Together, these components aim to map the conditions necessary for a society not just to function in the present, but to sustain itself equitably and inclusively into the future. The report underscores that progress must be defined by the equitable, inclusive, and sustainable well-being of both people and the planet.
India's Perspective and Future Steps
Intergovernmental consultations are currently underway regarding the report's recommendations. In India, official sources have acknowledged the report, noting that while it is early days for implementation, the insights are being considered.
Looking ahead, India aims to revise its economic base year every five years to ensure better capturing of economic activities and improved continuity in data. This commitment follows delays in previous revisions, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, there is an objective to transition to a chain-based index mechanism for GDP estimation, a method that would offer greater accuracy by dynamically reflecting changes in demand and production without the need for a fixed base year. This approach has already been proposed for the index of industrial production by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
The move to a more nuanced measurement system reflects a global recognition that economic growth alone is insufficient to gauge true societal advancement, paving the way for policies focused on broader human and environmental welfare.