‘Beyond GDP’ Powerful Tool for Advancing Social Development, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Summit Session, Urges Rethinking Metrics of Dignified Life

Following are Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed's remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the World Social Summit Solutions Session on "Emerging Pathways Beyond GDP: Presentation of the High-Level Expert Group's Emerging Recommendations and Intergenerational Dialogue with Youth Moving Beyond GDP", in Doha today:

Thirty years ago, Governments from around the world came together in Copenhagen to promote social development as the foundation of human dignity and flourishing. Their Declaration stated "that our societies must respond more effectively to the material and spiritual needs of individuals, their families and the communities in which they live throughout our diverse countries and regions".

This was not a polite request for delivering better services or making policies slightly more progressive.

Rather, it was a demand for a fundamental reassessment of people's needs - and a reorientation of societies so that meeting those needs is positioned as the central goal.

Over the last 30 years, progress has been made.

What has remained unchanged is our overreliance on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to assess our performance and inform decision making.

GDP is a useful and versatile measure of economic output, but it is woefully ill-suited to capture the needs and aspirations of our world.

The urgency to look beyond GDP has only intensified since Copenhagen.

The world has been rocked by multiple crises: The Great Recession that undermined trust in our economic systems; the COVID-19 pandemic that had lasting impact on our physical and psychological health; the triple planetary crisis; and the rapid and accelerating technological change that is upending labour markets in the short- and long-term and is transforming our everyday lives at a frightening speed.

These factors have led to a growing gap between peoples' experiences and the limited picture that GDP is able to provide about societies' progress. And they have fed an erosion of trust in Governments across the globe.

Last year, at the Summit for the Future, Member States agreed that the time has come for a change. They asked the Secretary-General to appoint a High-Level Expert Group to propose a credible, practical framework that can complement GDP with measures of well-being, inclusiveness and equity and sustainability.

In today's event, we will hear about the progress of the Expert Group, as they present their interim report.

The role of the UN in this effort is significant.

The UN, as the global village, is uniquely placed to convene the global community to agree what matters and what we measure.

We did this with the Sustainable Development Goals, which introduced the principle of leaving no one behind, and the forging of concerns for people and planet.

More recently, the UN has nurtured the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index, revealing the multiple structural challenges that impede sustainable development, and making a powerful case for a new approach to assess countries' financial needs.

Now our efforts turn towards Beyond GDP - and you all have a critical role to play.

The World Social Summit is a unique opportunity to inform the work of the Expert Group as it seeks to identify measures that capture what we intrinsically value, including the social dimensions of sustainable development.

Going Beyond GDP can be a powerful vehicle to advance social development by re-conceptualizing how societies and Government approach their quest for progress.

The task for the Expert Group is not an easy one.

Allow me to share three lessons from my involvement in the process that led to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals.

First, consultations and engagements with a variety of stakeholders are key for the legitimacy and quality of the process. I am encouraged by the efforts of the Experts to speak with a variety of stakeholders.

Second, change does not happen overnight. These processes require patience and tenacity - especially if their recommendations are to resonate in all countries.

Finally, ambition is crucial. One of the key elements that led to the universal adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals was the recognition that citizens across the world can no longer wait for their hopes and aspirations to remain unmet.

We are now in a similar situation. Citizens should no longer be told that the metric for the success of their society can be expressed in a single number.

We need a visionary proposal for how to conceptualize a dignified and good life today and tomorrow.

Today's event is a key milestone.

But our journey does not end here, and we rely on your help going forward: Participating in ongoing consultations by the Expert Group; engaging with [the] Group's final report during the eightieth session of the UN General Assembly; supporting the intergovernmental process that will deliberate on the Group's recommendations; and operationalizing the Beyond GDP framework in countries around the world. We count on your support. I thank you.