What Is Beyond GDP and Why Is It Important?

GDP measures economic activity but overlooks key aspects of human wellbeing, such as health, happiness, and environmental sustainability. While GDP growth may correlate with wellbeing, it doesn’t account for income distribution, social inequality, or ecological impacts that affect future generations. Recognizing these limitations, global initiatives like the UN's Valuing What Counts are pushing for Beyond-GDP metrics to reflect a more comprehensive view of sustainable wellbeing.

What Are the Barriers in Using Beyond-GDP Data?

Despite its importance, Beyond-GDP data faces several barriers. Terminology inconsistencies—where terms like wellbeing, happiness, and quality of life are used interchangeably—can cause confusion. Data is also dispersed across various databases tied to specific institutions, complicating access and integration. Inconsistent labeling for similar indicators adds further obstacles, making it harder for researchers to comprehensively and successfully utilize the metrics data.

How Was the WISE Database Built?

To address these challenges, we first developed the WISE framework, a unified structure that organizes Beyond-GDP metrics. This framework draws insights from key reports advocating for metrics beyond GDP and categorizes data into three core dimensions: current wellbeing (Wellbeing), distributional equity (Inclusion), and future wellbeing (Sustainability). The creation of the WISE database followed three main stages—data collection, processing, and final output—as illustrated in the figure below.

How Can It Facilitate Interdisciplinary Studies?

The WISE database could foster interdisciplinary research by providing a conceptualized, structured repository of Beyond-GDP metrics for cross-country comparison. With over one million data points from 244 metrics covering 218 countries and 61 country groupings, stakeholders including researchers across fields, journalists and policymakers can access and analyze data on wellbeing, inclusion, and sustainability. This WISE framework also allows future expansion to include more metrics from diverse scientific disciplines systematically and a foundation to foster future interdisciplinary collaboration, enhancing the database’s utility for research and policymaking.

Where to Find It?

The WISE database is uploaded on the Figshare platform, which is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.26970415.

We have also developed a visualization tool (powered by Power BI) to facilitate the utilization of the database on our website: https://beyond-gdp.world/wise-database/wise-database.