UN proposes new global dashboard to measure progress beyond GDP
Baku, May 8, AZERTAC
The United Nations on Thursday proposed the first global blueprint for how countries can assess progress that complements gross domestic product (GDP), Xinhua reports.
The proposal was included in a report titled "Counting What Counts: A Compass of Progress for People and Planet," which was released by the UN secretary-general's independent High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP and presented a dashboard of globally applicable indicators providing a new compass of progress for people and planet.
The report "is a landmark step in correcting a longstanding blind spot in measuring progress: The over-reliance on Gross Domestic Product," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a UN General Assembly (UNGA) plenary meeting to launch the report.
GDP is the most widely used metric of economic progress and well-being. But "it cannot be the only one," he said.
UNGA President Annalena Baerbock said the report proposed a dashboard of 31 indicators that complement GDP and build on existing frameworks and are designed to provide a more complete and policy-relevant picture of progress across economic, social, and environmental dimensions, including the capacity of societies to manage risks, like disasters, and respond to shocks, like crises.
"The objective of this report is not to reject GDP, nor to dismiss the importance of economic growth," she said.
According to Nora Lustig, co-chair of the High-Level Expert Group, GDP ignores inequality and poverty, does not capture environmental degradation, and misses non-monetary dimensions of well-being, like health, education and peace.
"Growth can mean many things. Growth in education. Growth in arts and leisure. Better health. Moving Beyond GDP does not mean eschewing economic growth -- but instead reflecting progress across the critical dimensions of well-being for people and planet. This is what we hope to capture in our report," said Kaushik Basu, another co-chair of the High-Level Expert Group.
For decades, GDP has guided major policy decisions at every level worldwide. While it remains an essential measure of economic output, relying on GDP alone risks an incomplete picture of progress -- one where the economy can grow even as critical dimensions of well-being, like safety or environmental quality, deteriorate sharply, according to the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC).
At the core of the report, which responds to a mandate from UN member states under the Pact for the Future to develop a limited number of country-owned, universally applicable indicators that complement and go beyond GDP, is a concise, ready-to-use dashboard designed to display a comprehensive assessment of progress, incorporating well-being, equity and inclusion, and sustainability, said the DGC in a press release.
Drawing on the existing Sustainable Development Goal global indicator framework and established statistical systems, the dashboard allows governments to begin using it immediately to inform their decision-making.
The report also draws attention to areas that determine progress but are often overlooked, such as cross-country spillovers, in recognition that wellbeing in one country is often influenced by activities and decisions in other countries, and outlines a clear roadmap of what is needed to go beyond GDP. In addition to a data agenda, the report provides actionable recommendations for different stakeholders, governments, the multilateral system, the statistical community, and civil society and media, said the DGC.
The UN High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP comprises 14 globally recognized experts appointed in May 2025, drawing on expertise in economics, statistics, development policy, inequality, sustainability and public policy from diverse regions and institutional backgrounds.
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