Spending our inheritance.
Fossil fuels and mineral deposits are finite. Extracting and selling them adds to GDP; depleting them is not deducted from it. We count the income while overlooking the loss of natural wealth.[1]
A case for a different kind of progressMore ≠ better
The economy grows.
But are we
getting better?
A rising GDP can coexist with depleted soil, exhausted people, and a destabilized climate. We need to stop mistaking more economic activity for a better life.
Read the case01 / What the number missesA growing economy.
A growing economy.
A shrinking inheritance.
Liquidating the living world.
A harvest has a market price. The topsoil, clean water, and living systems that make future harvests possible are easier to overlook. Erosion can remove soil far faster than it forms.[2]
Counting damage as activity.
Polluting production and paid cleanup both contribute to GDP. The number does not subtract the full harm to climate, habitats, or health. Repairing a loss is not the same as moving forward.[1]
More output. Less life?
Depression, anxiety, loneliness, and exhaustion belong at the center of our definition of progress. More than a billion people live with mental disorders. Rising production alone tells us little about their wellbeing.[3]
A bigger pie. For whom?
GDP can rise while gains flow to the top and families struggle for housing, food, and stability. A national total cannot tell us who thrives, who is left behind, or who bears the costs.[1]
The priceless goes uncounted.
Raising a child. Caring for a parent. Showing up for a neighbor. Most unpaid household care falls outside GDP. A society can lose time for what matters without that loss appearing in its headline measure.[4]
Change the destination
Growth can help meet real needs. But more is a means, not an end. The test is whether economic activity helps people flourish—and preserves the living world that makes flourishing possible.
02 / What progress should meanMeasure what makes
Measure what makes
life worth living.
Healthy people
Physical and mental health, healthy life expectancy, and access to care.
A living planet
Emissions, material use, soil health, clean water, and thriving biodiversity.
Enough, fairly shared
Secure housing, nutritious food, decent work, and less poverty and inequality.
Time to be human
Rest, relationships, unpaid care, community, and freedom to shape our lives.
A future that holds
Clean energy, resilient infrastructure, and ecosystems future generations can depend on.
Use a public dashboard, with clear targets and results broken down by income, place, and community. Make tradeoffs visible. Judge budgets and policies by what they improve. [1]
The goal is a better life.
Within a living planet.
Keep GDP as an economic statistic. End its reign as the headline measure of human progress. An economy succeeds when people and nature can thrive—now, and long after us.