For decades, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has shaped how governments evaluate progress. Yet GDP was never designed to capture societal wellbeing. It counts only market transactions, treats social and environmental costs as if they were benefits, and overlooks the contributions of households, communities, and nature.
After the Second World War, GDP growth aligned with broad improvements in quality of life. But in the Anthropocene, ecological limits, rising inequality, and eroding social cohesion have weakened the link between more production and better lives. As artificial intelligence accelerates social and economic change, the limitations of GDP are becoming even more apparent.
Recognising this, the United Nations has launched a High-Level Expert Group to develop new measures that balance economic, social, and environmental dimensions of wellbeing. Hundreds of beyond-GDP indicators already exist, but progress has been slow. Paradoxically, the proliferation of alternative measures has helped GDP retain its status, by creating the illusion that there is little agreement among these approaches. In fact, there is much that alternatives to GDP agree on.
In our recent article, published in Nature, we identify important areas of common ground and propose four ways forward:
1. Embrace sustainable and inclusive wellbeing
We argue that sustainable and inclusive wellbeing— the wellbeing of all people and the ecosystems that support life — should replace GDP as the overarching goal of economic policy.
This approach recognises that lasting wellbeing requires respecting ecological limits, protecting the rights of future generations, and ensuring that all people have access to essential resources, services, and democratic participation.
International bodies have already begun to adopt this framing. Since the landmark Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report in 2009, institutions such as the UN, the European Commission, and the OECD have increasingly called for measures of progress that go beyond GDP. However, achieving global uptake will require stronger public demand and supportive political conditions.
2. Agree on wellbeing indicators
If policymakers are to integrate sustainable and inclusive wellbeing into budgeting and decision-making, they need a shared way of measuring it.
Despite the proliferation of more than 200 beyond-GDP indicators, studies show substantial conceptual overlap. Different frameworks may use different language, but semantic analysis reveals a common set of roughly twenty core components that appear across most indicator frameworks.
This convergence provides a foundation for establishing an agreed global framework. The UN High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP and the ongoing update of the Sustainable Development Goals are already advancing the agenda. Real progress will also require investment in data capacity. Directing even a small fraction of existing data resources toward measuring wellbeing could significantly improve global policy evaluation.
3. Develop dynamic models that go beyond GDP
GDP has remained dominant partly because it is embedded in the models used for policy design. Standard macroeconomic models assume a high degree of substitutability between natural and human-made capital, neglect environmental limits, and optimise for a single goal: GDP growth.
To support a shift beyond GDP, we need dynamic, non-linear models that recognise that the economy is a subsystem of society, embedded within the biosphere. These models must track stocks and flows of natural, human, social, and built capital; measure environmental pressures relative to planetary boundaries; and assess whether social thresholds for human needs are being met.
Ecological macroeconomic models, which have been developed within fields such as ecological economics and are currently being advanced by projects like MAPS, MERGE, and WISE Horizons, offer promising tools. These models can explore trade-offs, simulate synergies, and identify pathways toward sustainable and inclusive wellbeing, rather than assuming that more GDP is always the desired outcome.
4. Treat societal addictions
Finally, even the best metrics and models cannot succeed without addressing the vested interests that reinforce unsustainable behaviours. Fossil fuel companies, financial institutions, and political elites benefit from the current growth-dependent system and often use their influence to block change.
This dynamic resembles a form of societal “addiction”. As in addiction therapy, direct confrontation often backfires, provoking denial or resistance. More constructive approaches, such as motivational interviewing, engage people in envisioning positive alternatives, motivating change by appealing to shared aspirations.
Building such momentum requires a coalition of movements focused on climate action, social justice, and democratic reform. The Wellbeing Economy Alliance is one example of a growing network working to unite these initiatives.
We know that GDP does not measure what matters. We know better metrics and better models are within reach. The challenge now is to embed them in practice, and to build the political will for a shift toward sustainable and inclusive wellbeing. Moving beyond GDP is no longer a radical idea — it is an urgent necessity.
Read the full article in Nature:
The full article may be cited as:
Costanza, R., Eastoe, J., Hoekstra, R., Kubiszewski, I., O’Neill, D.W., 2025. Beyond growth — why we need to agree on an alternative to GDP now. Nature 647, 589-591. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03721-1