Dubai Future Foundation Advocates for New National Success Metrics Beyond GDP

A new study from the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) called “The Future of Progress” suggests that the world should abandon the typical global success indicator that is the GDP. This report builds upon earlier ideas explored in DFF’s “Future Opportunities Report: The Global 50 ‘A briefing for the global living initiates the discussions on redefining prosperity which had been released earlier in 2023.

GDP, as a concept that still strives almost 80 years, became the key indicator of national development with special emphasis on overall value of produced goods and services in the country. However, the revolutionary advances in technology, political instabilities, environmental problems like the global warming and socioeconomic transformation have termed the use of GDP as the only measure of a country success as inadequate.

HE Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustee of DFF said that there is a need for changing or coming up with new yardsticks. He said “It is about time that the progress was to be measured by factors like quality of life, education, health, well-being, research and innovative, and sustainable. ”

The paper describes possible narrative and trajectories of the post-GDP world. For this change it talks about the challenges, has a timeline of how different countries can change for the better and lastly, gives four possible global futures for re-envisioning success. Besides, the report also suggests forming a global working group to co-develop a new framework and identification of the pilot sites to develop the new measures of national success.

DFF consulted with professionals from well-known global organizations, including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and leading academic institutions, to gain knowledge about how the creation of new, broader indicators of prosperity could be initiated. This is the aim of this report that is intended to trigger global discussion on the need to embrace new approaches to evaluating enriched human quality.

You can read a full report on the official website of Dubai Future Foundation at direct link.