What the Social Progress Index can reveal about your country

On the fourth of January, 1934,

A young man delivered a report

to the United States Congress

that 80 years on,

still shapes the lives of
everyone in this room today.

Still shapes the lives of
everyone on this planet.

That young man wasn't a politician,

he wasn't a businessman,

a civil rights activist,

or a faith leader.

He was the most unlikely of heroes,

an economist.

(Laughter)

His name was Simon Kuznets

and the report that he delivered was called,

"National Income, 1929-32"

Now, you might think that

this is a rather dry and dull report,

and you're absolutely right.

It's dry as a bone.

But this report is the foundation

of how, today, we judge the
success of countries.

What we know best as
Gross Domestic Product,

or GDP.

GDP has defined and shaped our lives

for the last 80 years.

And today I want to talk about

a different way to measure
the success of countries.