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In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy gave one of the most powerful speeches ever made about the meaning of progress. On that occasion, he denounced the inadequacy of gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of development. He stated that GNP “measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and doesn’t account for things like children’s health, education quality, beauty, wisdom, or compassion.” He emphasized that while the United States had significant economic growth, it lacked in other areas crucial to a fulfilling life.
Today, the world increasingly recognizes that it is time for change. In the midst of systemic crises -climate, social, technological- it is urgent to redefine what we mean by progress and how we measure it. It is no longer enough to quantify economic growth. We need indicators that speak to us of well-being, sustainability, justice and the real capacity to live a dignified life.
In this context, the “Beyond GDP Global Alliance”, led by Spain, the OECD, UNCTAD, and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), and presented in Seville as part of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, emerges as a bold and necessary response. With this alliance, we aim to collectively build a new framework that redefines what we mean by development—one that reflects not just how much and how we produce, but also how we live and where we want to go as humanity.
Within the Ibero-American community, we have long been emphasizing the urgency of this transformation. Back at the Andorra Summit in 2021, we called on the international community to adopt a more comprehensive set of parameters to guide the path toward sustainable development. That vision has since gained traction and was recently reaffirmed by Spain’s Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Eva Granados, at the United Nations on behalf of all of Ibero-America, during the preparatory sessions for this Fourth Conference.
The alliance will promote three major transformations: what we understand by development and how we measure it; the criteria for allocating international cooperation, including Official Development Assistance (ODA), which must take middle-income countries into account; and the creation of instruments to support countries in transitioning towards a more sustainable, fair, and inclusive model.
Leaving GDP behind is not only a technical imperative, but also a political and ethical one. If we maintain international cooperation based solely on economic averages, we will continue to reproduce the very inequalities we claim to fight. Measuring correctly is the foundation for making sound decisions. That’s why what is at stake here is much more than a methodological change, it’s our collective ability to imagine and build a better world.
It’s time to heed the warnings of the past and take decisive action in the present. Let’s start by measuring what really matters.
*This article was originally published in El Universal de México.
