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28.02.2012
Towards the Earth Summit in Rio: “For the first time GDP limitations are seriously discussed”
British experts in the field of alternative welfare measures expressed their views and expectations with regard to the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012. The discussion was part of the Earth Debates hosted by the Natural History Museum in London in the run-up to the Earth Summit.

Watch the debate with E. Benson (Green Economy Coalition), H. Ryder (Department for International Development), A. Simms (New Economics Foundation) and P. Simpson (Carbon Disclosure Project) and join the online debate.

19.01.2012
German chancellor is seeking advice on measuring progress and quality of life
German chancellor Angela Merkel announced a “Dialogue on Germany’s future”. As part of the dialogue, a working group of experts deals with the question of how progress and quality of life can be measured. Results are expected by Autumn 2012.

Read more on the dialogue (in German).

22.12.2011
CIRET enters the beyond GDP debate
At its 31st conference on the use of survey data for economic research the Centre for International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys (CIRET) has the special topic “Measurement beyond GDP – the Use of Surveys”. The conference will be held in Vienna from 5 to 8 September 2012.

Download the call for papers (pdf, 55 kb).

22.12.2011
The pros and cons of an encompassing wellbeing index
Referring to the Canadian Iindex of Wellbeing and similar measures Donato Speroni disusses the pros and cons of an all-encompassing "happiness-index" and its usefulness as an alternative to GDP.

Read the newspaper article from Corriere Della Sera (in Italian / in English).

24.11.2012
Measurement of Progress in Italian Society – first deliverables
The initiative "Measurement of Progress in Italian Society", set up jointly by ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics) and CNEL (National Council of Economy and Labour), has delivered the first results of the project BES- Benessere Equo e Sostenibile (fair and sustainable well-being). In a public consultation all Italians are called to express their opinion on the 12 chosen quality-of-life dimensions. By the end of 2012, the first report on overall quality of life in Italy is going to be released.

Find more information (in Italian).

14.11.2011
African stakeholders will prepare for OECD’s 4th World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy
At the African Conference on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering the Progress of Societies stakeholders from the academic and statistics communities, as well as from public and social actors, will discuss how to overcome the challenges national statistical systems face in Africa and how best to use better well-being measures in evidence based policy making. The outcomes of the conference will form the African contributions to the 4th OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, to be held in New Delhi, India on 16-19 October 2012.

Read the announcement of the conference (19-21 April 2012 in Rabat, Morocco).

05.11.2011
4th OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge, and Policy announced
OECD announced the 4th World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge, and Policy - Measuring Well-Being for Development and Policy Making being held in New Delhi, India, from 16 to 19 October 2012.

Read more on the website of the OECD.

How are Canadians really doing? New Canadian Index of Well-being shows that gains in GDP did not translate into better quality of life.
> Read more on website of Canadian Index of Wellbeing - 20 October 2011
> Download report (pdf, 3.3 mb) - October 2011
> View video presentation (4.15 min.)

Social justice in the OECD - How do the member states compare? A report offers a comparative assessment of 31 OECD countries with regard to six key dimensions.
> Read press release, Bertelsmann Stiftung - 27 October 2011
> Download full report (pdf, 3.2 mb) - 27 October 2011

Follow up on the Stiglitz Report - achievements and forthcoming contributions by French statistics authorities. For each of the three domains defined by the 2009 report, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies presents the present and future contributions of the French public statistics authorities.
> Read more - National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies
12 October 2011

"Two years after the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report: What well-being and sustainability measures?" Conference organised by France and the OECD to take stock of initiatives and reflections at national and international levels.
> Download conference programme - 12 October 2011 (pdf, 580 kb)
> Watch video - 12 October 2011

European Parliament resolution underlines that the Rio+20 Summit should deliver an alternative model to measure growth and welfare 'beyond GDP'.
> Read resolution, European Parliament - 29 September 2011

European Commission proposes provisional set of resource efficiency indicators and launches a two-year stakeholder process to further improve them.
> Read section 6 of policy paper on resource efficiency in English, French and German
> Read annex 6 on indicators and targets (pdf, 4.6 mb)
20 September 2011

New results on well-being in the United Kingdom from time use and diary studies by Jonathan Gershuny, University of Oxford, UK
> Read report (pdf, 696 kb) - 12 September 2011

Eurofound's third European Quality of Life Survey: Field work to start in September 2011
> Read more about the field work, Eurofound - 9 September 2011 

Huge response in national debate will help statisticians create the UK's first set of national well-being indicators. The report "Measuring what matters" summarises the key findings and outlines the next steps in the measurement of national well-being.
> Download report (pdf, 1.3 mb) - 27 July 2011
> Download supplementary papers from the Office for National Statistics website - July 2011
> Read news article, BBC - 25 July 2011

OECD Chief Statistician presents Better life and other initiatives to measure well-being and progress at UK National Well-being Event
> Download OECD presentation (pdf, 970 kb) - 25 July 2011

OECD reaffirmed its strong commitment to support more inclusive measures of growth at the conference: "New Directions in Welfare 2011" held in Paris, France on 6 July 2011
> Read Secretary-General Angel Guirria's opening remarks
> See conference programme and presentations

Final report of the research project "Well-being 2030 - A new vision for 'Social Europe' aims to bring the insights of the research on well-being definition and measurement into the policy debate over the long-term future of Social Europe:
> Download report
19 July 2011
European Policy Centre

UK podcast explains existing measures of economic well-being
> View podcast, Office for National Statistics - 19 July 2011

Finnish expert group proposes that a new set of indicators should be developed to improve the assessment of wellbeing.
> Read press release - 5 July 2011 (in English, Finnish and Swedish)
> Read news article from YLE (Finnish or Swedish) - 5 July 2011.
> Download report (in Finnish, pdf, 1.1 mb)

Commissioner Janez Potočnik welcomes adoption of Beyond GDP Report and new Regulation on Environmental Economic Accounts. These outcomes demonstrate broad consensus that human development and wellbeing is about more than what we can measure through monetary values, he points out in a statement issued after the vote.
> Regulation on Environmental Economic Accounts - 7 June 2011 (in all EU languages)
> Read Commissioner Potočnik's statement - 8 June 2011

Beyond GDP resolution adopted by European Parliament. The final vote in the plenary session showed broad support to the resolution which has been discussed in six EP Committees. The Commission is now to come up with concrete ideas for new indicators, says Rapporteur Anna Rosbach.
> Resolution on GDP and beyond: measuring progress in a changing world - 8 June 2011
> Read interview with rapporteur Anna Rosbach - June 2011
> See opinions and documents from debate in EP Committees

Regulation on Environmental Economic Accounts adopted by the European Parliament. In the debate in plenary preceding the vote, several speakers underlined the importance of measuring aspects of progress relating to the environment. This is the first out of five actions proposed in EU Roadmap 2009 to be implemented.
> View press briefing by Jo Leinen, Rapporteur and Chair of EP Environmental Committee - 7 June 2011
> Read EP press release, - 7 June 2011
> View debate in the European Parliament, - 6 June 2011
> See transcript of debate in the European Parliament - 6 June 2011
> Regulation on Environmental Economic Accounts - 7 June 2011 (in all EU languages)

German chancellor Angela Merkel supports the efforts to develop a new, alternative measure of prosperity. She emphasises the need to integrate the value of natural capital in economic accounting.
> Read Chancellor Angela Merkel's speech (in German), Federal Chancellor's website - 24 May 2011

Your Better Life Index - new, interactive measure of well-being
OECD launches new online tool which lets people measure and compare their lives in a way that goes beyond traditional GDP numbers.
> Go to Your Better Life Index.
> Read press release. - 24 May 2011
> Watch video

The Belgian web-docu "le bonheur brut", which deals with alternative indicators of economic growth, received this year's Dexia award in the category Business and Financial Press.
- News article - 28 April 2011, Le Soir (in French)
- Official press release - 28 April 2011, Dexia (in French and Dutch)
- Go to web-docu "Le bonheur brut" (in French)

UN responds to concerns and critiques about the Human Development Index and makes changes to the choice of variables and the functional form. Report explains the rationale behind new HDI.
> Download "The Human Development Index 2010: New Controversies, Old Critiques" (pdf, 740 kb)
April 2011
UNDP
> Read more on the UNDP website

Growing international interest among leading politicians in new British happiness index
> Read article (in German)
18 April 2011
Der Standard

New public attitude survey shows slight increase in the average rating of 'life satisfaction' in England.
> Read more about the survey, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - 13 April 2011

The report "Consumption Dilemma - Leverage Points for Accelerating Sustainable Growth" questions rising GDP as an appropriate measure of success.
> Download report (pdf, 1.4 mb), World Economic Forum - April 2011

The Eurostat conference on "Statistics for policy making: Europe 2020" took place on 10 & 11 March 2011 in Brussels. President Barroso, Commissioner for Environment Potocnik, OECD Chief Economist Padoan, Belgian Minister of Finance Reynders and others confirm that measuring progress needs to go beyond GDP.
> View video of opening speeches
> Download:
Conference leaflet with programme, presentations and speeches (pdf, 8.8 mb)
> Opening speech of President Barroso
> Speech of Commissioner Potočnik
> Speech of OECD Chief Economist Padoan
> Conclusions by Commissioner Rehn

India/China comparison must go beyond GDP, says Amartya Sen, Nobel price winner in economics
> Read article, The Hindu - 14 February 2011

Global poll shows continued strong public support for going beyond GDP
> Read article, GlobeScan - 21 January 2011

German parliamentary committee starts the work to develop new indicator of prosperity
> Read article (in German), Handelsblatt - 21 January 2011

New update of the Sustainable Society Index, SSI-2010, is now available
December 2010
Sustainable Society Foundation

"What's life like in Italy?" (in Italian)
- updated index of the quality of regional development in Italy.
16 December 2010
Sbilanciamoci Campaign

Italian debate on the importance of going beyond GDP when measuring wealth
(in Italian with an English transcript)
12 December 2010
TV programme report on Rai Tre

Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy received the joint report on measuring progress from the economic advisory councils of Germany and France
10 December 2010
Related news article in Handelsblatt (in German)

The German Prosperity Quartet combines four measuring instruments to record the prosperity of societies
7 December 2010
Denkwerk Zukunft

The German Bundestag has established a Study Commission on growth, well-being and quality of life in terms of sustainable development and societal progress
> Read mandate (pdf, 39 kb) - 23 November 2010 1 December 2010 bundestag.de
Read news article - 1 December 2010 (in German)

Can biodiversity become a parameter for measuring the wealth of nations?
29 November 2010
seedmagazine.com

Cameron turns to statistics to measure happiness
15 November 2010
The Guardian

David Cameron aims to make happiness the new GDP
14 November 2010
The Guardian

Parliamentary Committee in Germany to develop new indicator of prosperity (in German)
12 November 2010
Sueddeutsche.de

Germany debates over new committee to discuss GDP questions (in German)
22 October 2010
Welt Online

EU Committee of the Regions supports Commission's beyond GDP agenda and requests use of complementary indicators to GDP for regional development policies
5 October 2010
Opinion of the EU Committee of the Regions

New insights into the economy, quality of life and sustainable development (in French)
4 October 2010
INSEE

INSEE (Institut National de la Statistique et des études économiques) reporting on work done, one year after the Stiglitz Commission report. (in French)
4 October 2010

The European Week of Regions and Cities includes several beyond GDP workshops. The final programme is now available.
Brussels, 4 - 7 October 2010
4 and 5 October, Flanders and the EU Committee of the Regions organise an Open Days 2010 workshop on indicators and policies for sustainable development.
17 September 2010

The EU Committee of the Regions has published a summary of contributions to new indicators for measuring the progress of societies, and calls for contributions to the Opinion it will be preparing.
15 September 2010

European Commissioner Olli Rehn's concluding remarks at the conference "Economic Growth for Better Quality of Life in Europe".
14 September 2010

Austrian Foreign Minister calls for different measurement of economic growth (in German)
18 August 2010
Die Presse

Eurofound publishes survey on trends in Europeans' quality of life 2003-2009
12 August 2010

UK publishes its annual statistical review of the country’s progress:Measuring progress: Sustainable development indicators 2010
30 July 2010
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Social Indicators extensively discussed at World Congress of Sociology
11-17 July 2010

Online tool allows users to calculate and compare their life situation with the Dutch Life Situation Index
8 July 2010
Netherlands Institute for Social Research

Coordination of Agenda 21 in Italy results in a survey on environmental accounting which examines the experience of over 100 local authorities
(in Italian)
Clear Environmental and Reporting Project
May 2010

The Rise and Fall of the G.D.P.
The New York Times
15 May 2010

Eurostat launches dedicated webpage on its work on complementary indicators to GDP
10 May 2010

The European Economic and Social Committee welcomes the Commission's communication Beyond GDP - Measuring progress in a changing World and the initiatives it outlines.
29 April 2010

European Commission delivers first item of the Beyond GDP roadmap: the proposal for an EU Regulation (in all 23 EU languages) on integrated environmental economic accounting.
9 April 2010

Study by the National Bank of Slovakia discusses the weaknesses of GDP and suggests alternative approaches to measure quality of life
April 2010
National Bank of Slovakia
Full report (in Slovak)
Non-technical summary (in English)

Wuppertal Institute publishes report "Alternatives to GDP for Measuring Progress"
April 2010

Eurofound publishes its Second European Quality of Life Survey
25 March 2010

Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for Environment, calls for the right indicators to induce the right changes.
23 March 2010

GDP understated the depth of the latest recession and may be overstating the pace of recovery, a Federal Reserve economist said
18 March 2010

European Commission adopts Europe 2020 strategy, saying:
The European Commission will monitor annually the situation on the basis of a set of indicators showing overall progress towards the objective of smart, green and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion.
3 March 2010

Wales Assembly Government proposes to gauge overall life satisfaction
Western Mail
1 March 2010

EU Committee of the Regions consults on GDP and beyond
Deadline 16 April
March 2010

Progressive thinking - It is time to abandon GDP as the overriding measure of social development and economic health.
17 February 2010
Nature 463, 849-850

German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants EU to reflect on outcomes of the Stiglitz-Commission (in German)
6 February 2010
die tageszeitung
Video podcast from Angela Merkel (in German)

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agree to propose new growth indicators for the EU.
News article on the French-German summit
Conférence de presse conjointe Sarkozy & Merkel
Gemeinsame Pressekonferenz Merkel & Sarkozy
Entscheidungen im Bereich Wirtschaft, Finanzen, Beschäftigung
Décisions en matière de economie, finances et emploi
4 February 2010

Is GDP an Obsolete Measure of Progress?
Time Magazine
30 January 2010

Measuring Welfare in Germany - A suggestion for a new welfare index.
January 2010
Research Centre for Environmental Policy / Protestant institute for interdisciplinary research

Climate Change, GDP and measurements of prosperity
18 December 2009
Side event of the EESC at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen

In the matter of happiness money doesn't play a role.
15 December 2009
Financial Times Deutschland (in German)
Summary (in German)

German Chancellor Merkel expressed interest in the work of Stiglitz Commission (in German)
23 November 2009

President of France's statistical office presents roadmap on implementation of the Stiglitz-Commission recommendations - summary (in French)
17 November 2009

Council of the EU welcomes Commission Communication "GDP and beyond"
10 November 2009 on EU Statistics and
21 October 2009 on Eco-efficient economy

OECD releases conclusions of the 3rd OECD World Forum, including the OECD Roadmap on measuring and fostering well-being and progress
29 October 2009

European Commission President Barroso said that GDP could no longer be the sole major measure of progress
Full speech
Audio-visual press material
27 October 2009

The Prime Minister's Office and Statistics Finland have built a new, free online service called Findicator containing around 100 indicators describing social phenomena
14 October 2009

European Parliament resolution on the Pittsburgh G20 Summit calls for new indicators for sustainable development that go beyond GDP measuring well-being and environmental impact
8 October 2009

Media coverage on the Commission Communication "GDP and Beyond" and other recent international initiatives
October 2009

Newly released: BellagioSTAMP principles for sustainability assessment

3rd OECD World Forum “Charting Progress, Building Visions, Improving Life”
27-30 October 2009, Busan, Korea

India says aims for green GDP alternative by 2015
13 October 2009
Reuters India

Sustainability analysis of Italian regions (in Italian)
A study by the University of Pisa ranks Italian regions according to performance in terms of sustainable development.
September 2009
University of Pisa

G20 encourages work on measuring progress more comprehensively
Leaders Statement: Pittsburgh summit
25 September 2009

Final report of the Stiglitz Commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress
14 September 2009

EU Commission presents Communication “GDP and beyond” to stakeholders
8 September 2009

Well-being must increase, not gross national product (in Swedish)
23 August 2009
Dagens Nyheter

EU Commission adopts Communication “GDP and beyond”, the EU roadmap to go beyond GDP
20 August 2009

G.D.P. R.I.P.
9 August 2009
New York Times

The struggle against GDP (in German)
15 July 2009
Financial Times Germany

Stiglitz Commission releases draft summary for public comment
June 2009

We need to rethink the notion of progress (in French)
8 June 2009
Le Monde

Growing better (in German)
23 April 2009
Die Zeit

The deficits of statistics (in German)
26 March 2009
Die Zeit

Beyond GDP Conference Proceedings
The full proceedings of the Beyond GDP Conference are online and available for download.
4 March 2009

Professor Stiglitz outlines the work of the French Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress
February 2009

A More Humane Way to Measure Progress
How can you tell if your life is getting better? One answer is to ask a statistician. The problem, however, is that you might not like, understand or remotely identify with the answer you receive.
31 January 2009
Financial Times

De-fetishising GDP
Supplement, do not supplant, gross domestic product
29 January 2009
Financial Times

A measure remodelled
Growth indicators - With more economists denouncing GDP as 'a mirage' that ignores the social worth of an activity, the search is on for other yardsticks - but each will have its snags.
27 January 2009
Financial Times

new economics foundation releases report on National Accounts of Well-being
24 January 2009

Research Report "Measurement of Welfare in Germany - A proposal for a new welfare index" published. (Summary - Forschungsbericht in German, 2 MB)
December 2008

Beyond GDP Newsletter # 1 published
December 2008

European Economic and Social Committee adopts opinion on Beyond GDP
22 October 2008

Need to look beyond GDP
3 October 2008
The Times of India

Le bonheur est dans la "richesse véritable", pas dans la croissance
6 septembre 2008
Les Affaires

Economists look to expand GDP to count 'quality of life'
1 September 2008
International Herald Tribune

Issues Paper of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress released by Stiglitz Commission
25 July 2008
Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress

Walter Radermacher, President of the German Statistical Office and designated Director General of Eurostat speaks on the topic of "Beyond GDP - providing the basis for a future-orientated sustainable economic policy"
16 July 2008
Representation of the State of Hessen to the European Union

Terra Futura: dal Pil alla decrescita per sviluppo e benessere
24 maggio 2008
dirittiglobali.it

European Parliament resolution of 24 April 2008 on the Green Paper on market-based instruments for environment and related policy purposes

Welcomes the recent conference "Beyond GDP" organised by the Commission, the European Parliament, the OECD, the WWF and the Club of Rome, and the major conclusions drawn; stresses the importance of complementing GDP by other indicators so as to assess welfare and progress in society in a more balanced way, in particular with regard to the effects of economic growth on the atmosphere and ecosystems;
24 April 2008
European Parliament

Maybe money does buy happiness after all
16 April 2008
New York Times

Wachstum durch Zufriedenheit
Vom Glück, Franzose zu sein
Ist Glück messbar? Lässt sich die Zufriedenheit einer Nation statistisch erfassen? Mit dieser Frage beschäftigt sich derzeit der ökonom und Nobelpreisträger Joseph Stiglitz im Auftrag des französischen Staatschefs Sarkozy, der kritisiert, dass die heutigen Statistiken nur quantitativ statt qualitativ messen.
15 April 2008
Frankfurter Rundschau

L'altro Modello (video)
16 marzo 2008
Rai Tre

Richesses? Débat
13 mars 2008
La Vie

Se busca alternativa para medir el bienestar
3 February 2008
Gara

Sarkozy sucht das GlÜck
12. Januar 2008
NZZ Online

Amartya Sen: "Non si vive di solo Pil"
11 gennaio 2008
ILSOLE24ORE

French Use Happiness As Economic Measure
10 January 2008
USA Today

La croissance ne se résume pas au PIB: Sarkozy puise é gauche
9 janvier 2008
rue89

Beyond GDP Conference Summary now available
4 January 2008
Beyond GDP