About Beyond-GDP

Measuring Prosperity and Progress More Comprehensively

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a key, internationally recognized indicator used to describe economic activity. It measures the value of goods and services produced within a country and thus provides important information about economic development. GDP is indispensable for addressing many issues.

At the same time, GDP does not reflect—or only indirectly reflects—important aspects of social development. These include, for example, health and education, social participation and security, the distribution of income and wealth, the quality of institutions, and the state of the environment. GDP is therefore not a comprehensive measure of social progress or well-being.

A Long-Standing International Debate

The debate over how to measure social progress more comprehensively dates back many years. Even before the current Beyond GDP initiative, it had been pointed out that economic performance and social well-being cannot be equated.

An important milestone was the 2009 report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, led by Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, and Jean-Paul Fitoussi. Among other things, the Commission recommended supplementing GDP with a broader set of indicators that also take into account the distribution of wealth, quality of life, and the sustainability of development.

Since then, numerous other national and international initiatives have been developed. Countries and international organizations have established indicator systems and dashboards that reflect various dimensions of well-being and sustainable development. The OECD has also taken up the work of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission and further advanced the development of well-being and progress indicators.

At the United Nations level as well, the question of how progress can be measured beyond GDP has long been part of the international discussion. The 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for example, include numerous economic, social, and environmental indicators. SDG target 17.19 explicitly calls for the further development of existing initiatives to enable measurements of progress toward sustainable development that complement GDP.

The UN Proposal for a “Beyond GDP” Set of Indicators

In recent years, the “Beyond GDP” initiative has given this discussion new international momentum. In the 2021 report Our Common Agenda, UN Secretary-General António Guterres revisited the idea of a more comprehensive measure of progress. This was followed by further work within the UN system, including the 2022 report Valuing What Counts and a corresponding policy brief from 2023.

An important next step was the Pact for the Future, adopted by heads of state and government in September 2024. In it, the member states of the United Nations called for the development of metrics that complement the measurement of economic progress and go beyond GDP.

On this basis, the UN Secretary-General established an independent High-Level Expert Group on Beyond-GDP in May 2025. The internationally and multidisciplinary expert group was tasked with developing recommendations for a limited number of indicators that are applicable across countries and complement GDP.

The expert group built upon existing work and established statistical systems. The goal was not to create an entirely new statistical system alongside existing international and national statistics. Rather, the aim was to consolidate existing approaches, further develop them, and bring them together within a manageable framework. A significant portion of the proposed indicators is therefore based on already established data, including data from the SDG indicator system.

On May 7, 2026, the expert group published its final report, Counting What Counts: A Compass of Progress for People and Planet*. The report contains a conceptual framework and a dashboard with 31 proposed indicators. This is a proposal by the expert group and not an international indicator standard that has already been adopted as binding. The next steps toward the possible institutionalization and further development of the set of indicators are the subject of an intergovernmental process at the United Nations.

What is the goal of Beyond-GDP?

The expert group’s approach is based on the premise that social progress encompasses several interconnected dimensions. The focus is on human well-being and the state of our planet. This involves both people’s current situation and the question of whether the conditions for future well-being will be preserved. The proposed set of indicators is divided into four areas:
Fundamental Principles:
Peace, human rights, and respect for the natural foundations of life are fundamental prerequisites for societal progress. They provide the framework within which well-being, participation, and sustainable development can be considered.

Current Well-being:
This area examines various aspects of people’s current living conditions. These include, among other things, material living conditions and work, health, education, safety, subjective well-being, social cohesion, the quality of institutions, and environmental quality.

Equality and Participation:
Social progress cannot be described solely in terms of average values. Equally relevant is how opportunities, income, resources, and living conditions are distributed within a society and what differences exist among population groups. The proposal therefore takes into account, among other things, poverty, inequality, and differences among population groups.

Sustainability and Resilience:
Progress should not be measured solely by what is achieved today. It is equally important to ensure that the conditions for future well-being are preserved. The approach therefore considers various forms of capital and resources, including physical, human, social, institutional, and natural capital. This highlights the connection between the well-being of today’s population and the opportunities available to future generations.

“Beyond GDP” does not mean abolishing GDP or replacing it with a single new metric. Rather, it is about placing GDP in a broader context and supplementing it with other meaningful indicators. GDP remains an important measure of economic activity; however, it is not sufficient on its own for a comprehensive assessment of prosperity and progress.

The Beyond-GDP Dashboard for Germany

The German Beyond-GDP Dashboard builds on the framework proposed by the United Nations High-Level Expert Group and shows the extent to which the 31 proposed indicators can be mapped for Germany using available data. The dashboard explicitly presents a national perspective on the proposed UN set of indicators. It is neither an independent German version of the Beyond-GDP approach nor a national indicator standard adopted by the United Nations. Rather, the expert group’s proposal is applied to the statistical situation and available data for Germany.

The Federal Statistical Office compiles data and information for this purpose and illustrates the extent to which the proposed indicators can be applied to Germany. Where relevant data are available, time series are presented. This allows trends over longer periods to be tracked and current values to be placed in their temporal context.

For individual indicators, differences may arise regarding data availability, timeliness, time coverage, methodology, or international comparability. Current and long-term data for Germany are not available in the same way for all proposed indicators.

The dashboard therefore not only displays the available results, but also highlights the possibilities and limitations of the statistical representation of the proposed set of indicators.

From Proposal to Further Development

The report by the High-Level Expert Group does not mark the end of the international discussion on “Beyond GDP.” The report presents a proposal and serves as a basis for further deliberation by the member states of the United Nations. Following the technical work of the expert group, an intergovernmental process has begun in which the recommendations are being reviewed and possible next steps are being discussed.

Statistical implementation is also an ongoing process. Some of the proposed indicators have been part of established statistical systems for years. In other areas, there are still data gaps or a need for further development, for example with regard to data quality, timeliness, international comparability, or the regularity of data collection.

Against this backdrop, the German Beyond-GDP Dashboard should be understood as a contribution to this ongoing process. It shows which aspects of the framework proposed by the UN expert group can already be depicted using the data available for Germany. At the same time, it highlights the areas where statistical representation can be further developed.