clipped from www.naturallifemagazine.com

It's Not Necessarily About Growth:
Alternative Economic Indicators Measure the Quality of Life
by Wendy Priesnitz

Traditionally, a country’s economic health and well-being is measured by something called the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or its cousin, the Gross National Product (GNP). The media eagerly reports the number on a monthly basis and its rise or fall is used as an indicator of how well things are progressing or not. A recession, for instance, is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. But it’s really just a measure of national spending with no distinctions between transactions that add to well-being and those that diminish it. As long as money changes hands, the GDP increases.

Redefining Progress created the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) as an alternative to the GDP. The GPI enables policymakers to measure how well their citizens are doing, based on economic, health, social and environmental factors.