By shifting the focus from what is produced to what is sustained and shared, the new dashboard marks a fundamental change in how the world defines progress.
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Gross domestic product (GDP) has long been the world’s default scorecard for success. But as a measure of economic output, it does not show whether lives are improving, opportunities are shared, or the planet is protected.
To close this gap, the United Nations is introducing a new statistical dashboard to track what truly matters for people and the planet.
In its May 2026 report “Counting what counts”, the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP proposes a 31-indicator framework to complement GDP.
Drawing heavily on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the dashboard tracks three core dimensions: Current well-being, equity and inclusion, and sustainability and resilience.
Well-being: Wealth isn’t everything
Higher incomes do not automatically translate into longer, healthier lives. Costa Rica’s GDP per capita is less than one-quarter of the United States’, yet its healthy life expectancy is higher. In Italy, healthy life expectancy continued to improve even during economic slowdowns.
Safety trends are equally sobering: In Latin America, homicides rose nearly 50% between 2015 and 2023, even as GDP increased by 17%.
Social trust also defies economic logic. In Northern Africa, median GDP per capita grew by 10.5% between 2014 and 2022, yet the share of people reporting that “most people can be trusted” fell by more than 17%.
Equity: Growth does not always reduce inequality
In Eastern Europe, GDP per capita grew faster than in Southern Europe over the past decade, but the share of wealth held by the bottom 99% declined more sharply in the east.
While average GDP per capita in developed economies rose 12% over ten years, women’s pay relative to men’s improved by only 1%.
Sustainability: The emissions paradox
While per-person emissions have stabilized in many countries, total emissions continue to climb due to economic and population growth. Staying within planetary boundaries requires far more ambitious action.
The data gap facing developing countries
Although the dashboard builds on the SDG framework, data availability remains highly uneven.
As of April 2026, fewer than half of developing countries had sufficient data to report on key dimensions such as current well-being and sustainability and resilience.
These gaps limit policymakers’ ability to design evidence-based strategies and benchmark progress globally.
UNCTAD: Turning the Beyond GDP vision into data-driven policy
UNCTAD supports countries in strengthening the statistical and analytical capacities needed to implement the new framework.
It’s currently piloting the indicators proposed by the High-Level Expert Group to bridge the implementation gap at the country level, working in close collaboration with a range of partners within and beyond the UN system.
It contributes to methodology development through the UN Statistical Commission and the UN Chief Statisticians’ network.
UNCTAD also supports the Global Alliance on Beyond GDP – launched in Sevilla and led by Spain – to facilitate peer learning among countries.