UN Secretary-General Appoints High-Level Expert Group On Beyond GDP
07 May 2025
The Secretary-General has today
appointed an independent High-Level Expert Group to develop
recommendations for measures that complement or go beyond
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The appointment of the Expert
Group follows a request by Member States in the Pact
for the Future and reflects a shared and
long-standing goal. When adopting the Sustainable
Development Goals in 2015, Member States committed to the
development of measures of progress that complement GDP by
2030. They did so in recognition that GDP, which is heavily
relied upon as a gauge of prosperity and is the basis for
government targets and rankings, provides an incomplete
picture of the different dimensions of sustainable
development.
“This initiative could not be
timelier. Every day, we witness the consequences of our
failure to balance economic, social and environmental
dimensions of development,” the Secretary-General said.
“To achieve the progress we need, the well-being of people
and the planet must be at the centre of what we measure and
value. Measures that complement GDP can enable a paradigm
shift in policymaking that refocuses efforts on sustainable
development and prosperity for all,” he
underscored.
In Our
Common Agenda and the supporting Policy
Brief on Valuing What Counts: Framework to Progress
Beyond Gross Domestic Product, the Secretary-General
elaborated the case for this initiative. He emphasized the
need to overcome a “harmful anachronism” at the heart of
global policy making, in which our current metrics overlook
many aspects that contribute to human well-being, while at
the same time valuing some activities that harm people and
planet. Complementary metrics are therefore crucial to
expand the data on which policy decisions and
prioritizations are made. Ultimately, these metrics can
drive behavior change in how societies think about and
pursue progress.
In the Pact
for the Future, Member States recognized that
“sustainable development must be pursued in a balanced and
integrated manner”, and requested the creation of an
Expert Group to identify complementary metrics. Today’s
announcement marks an important step in this
endeavor.
About the High-Level Expert
Group
The Expert Group will be tasked with
elaborating a conceptual framework that identifies key
dimensions of progress, and developing an initial list of
corresponding country-owned, universally-applicable
indicators of sustainable development to form a dashboard
that equips governments with the information they need. In
addition, it will provide guidance on the deployment of the
dashboard to maximize its uptake, and on priorities for data
collection and statistical capacity to operationalize the
dashboard and indicators.
The Expert Group will
closely consult with Member States and key stakeholders
throughout the process, taking into account the work of the
UN Statistical Commission, and building on the global
indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The High-Level Expert Group will present the outcome of its
work during the eightieth session of the General Assembly,
which will inform a subsequent intergovernmental
process.
The 14 members of the
independent Expert Group represent eminent scholars and
experts from various domains, as well as reflecting gender
and geographical diversity. The Expert Group will be led by
two co-chairs, Mr. Kaushik Basu and Ms. Nora Lustig, and be
supported by a technical secretariat composed of staff from
the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the UN
Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Executive Office of the
Secretary-General (EOSG).
High-Level Expert
Group Members
The High-Level Expert Group
members – all working in their personal capacity –
include:
- Mr. Assem Algursan
- Mr. Kaushik Basu (co-chair)
- Ms. Martine Durand
- Ms. Haishan Fu
- Mr. Enrico Giovannini
- Ms. Carol Graham
- Ms. Naila Kabeer
- Mr. Damien King
- Ms. Nora Lustig (co-chair)
- Mr. Pham Khanh Nam
- Ms. Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi
- Ms. Mari Pangestu
- Mr. Joseph E. Stiglitz
- Mr. Leonard Wantchekon