1
00:00:00,442 --> 00:00:04,513
On January 4, 1934,

2
00:00:04,513 --> 00:00:07,529
a young man delivered a report

3
00:00:07,529 --> 00:00:09,914
to the United States Congress

4
00:00:09,914 --> 00:00:11,868
that 80 years on,

5
00:00:11,868 --> 00:00:16,528
still shapes the lives of
everyone in this room today,

6
00:00:16,528 --> 00:00:22,222
still shapes the lives of
everyone on this planet.

7
00:00:22,222 --> 00:00:25,102
That young man wasn't a politician,

8
00:00:25,102 --> 00:00:27,101
he wasn't a businessman,

9
00:00:27,101 --> 00:00:28,438
a civil rights activist

10
00:00:28,438 --> 00:00:30,213
or a faith leader.

11
00:00:30,213 --> 00:00:33,484
He was that most unlikely of heroes,

12
00:00:33,484 --> 00:00:35,981
an economist.

13
00:00:37,007 --> 00:00:39,552
His name was Simon Kuznets

14
00:00:39,552 --> 00:00:42,696
and the report that 
he delivered was called

15
00:00:42,696 --> 00:00:47,148
"National Income, 1929-1932."

16
00:00:47,148 --> 00:00:48,632
Now, you might think

17
00:00:48,632 --> 00:00:51,723
this is a rather dry and dull report.

18
00:00:51,723 --> 00:00:53,805
And you're absolutely right.

19
00:00:53,805 --> 00:00:56,260
It's dry as a bone.

20
00:00:56,260 --> 00:00:58,570
But this report is the foundation

21
00:00:58,570 --> 00:01:01,503
of how, today, we judge the 
success of countries:

22
00:01:01,503 --> 00:01:05,052
what we know best as
Gross Domestic Product,

23
00:01:05,052 --> 00:01:07,363
GDP.

24
00:01:07,363 --> 00:01:10,266
GDP has defined and shaped our lives

25
00:01:10,266 --> 00:01:12,864
for the last 80 years.

26
00:01:12,864 --> 00:01:14,681
And today I want to talk about 


27
00:01:14,681 --> 00:01:18,520
a different way to measure
the success of countries,

28
00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,669
a different way to define 
and shape our lives

29
00:01:21,669 --> 00:01:24,926
for the next 80 years.

30
00:01:24,926 --> 00:01:26,817
But first, we have to understand

31
00:01:26,817 --> 00:01:30,726
how GDP came to
dominate our lives.

32
00:01:30,726 --> 00:01:32,986
Kuznets' report was delivered

33
00:01:32,986 --> 00:01:34,708
at a moment of crisis.

34
00:01:34,708 --> 00:01:36,734
The U.S. economy was plummeting

35
00:01:36,734 --> 00:01:38,349
into the Great Depression

36
00:01:38,349 --> 00:01:41,434
and policy makers were 
struggling to respond.

37
00:01:41,434 --> 00:01:44,579
Struggling because they didn't
know what was going on.

38
00:01:44,579 --> 00:01:47,961
They didn't have data and statistics.

39
00:01:47,961 --> 00:01:50,783
So what Kuznet's report gave them

40
00:01:50,783 --> 00:01:54,061
was reliable data on what 
the U.S. economy

41
00:01:54,061 --> 00:01:55,196
was producing,

42
00:01:55,196 --> 00:01:58,264
updated year by year.

43
00:01:58,264 --> 00:02:00,604
And armed with this information,

44
00:02:00,604 --> 00:02:02,612
policy makers were, eventually,

45
00:02:02,612 --> 00:02:06,040
able to find a way out 
of the slump.

46
00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:07,922
And because Kuznets' invention

47
00:02:07,922 --> 00:02:09,694
was found to be so useful,

48
00:02:09,694 --> 00:02:11,382
it spread around the world.

49
00:02:11,382 --> 00:02:13,851
And now today, every country

50
00:02:13,851 --> 00:02:16,815
produces GDP statistics.

51
00:02:16,815 --> 00:02:19,922
But, in that first report,

52
00:02:19,922 --> 00:02:23,466
Kuznets himself delivered a warning.

53
00:02:23,466 --> 00:02:25,447
It's in the introductory chapter.

54
00:02:25,447 --> 00:02:27,481
On page seven he says,

55
00:02:27,481 --> 00:02:30,110
"The welfare of a nation can, therefore,

56
00:02:30,110 --> 00:02:31,664
scarcely be inferred

57
00:02:31,664 --> 00:02:33,664
from a measurement of 
national income

58
00:02:33,664 --> 00:02:35,601
as defined above."

59
00:02:35,601 --> 00:02:38,969
It's not the greatest sound 
bite in the world,

60
00:02:38,969 --> 00:02:42,598
and it's dressed up in the cautious 
language of the economist.

61
00:02:42,598 --> 00:02:44,774
But his message was clear:

62
00:02:44,774 --> 00:02:46,508
GDP is a tool

63
00:02:46,508 --> 00:02:49,566
to help us measure
economic performance.

64
00:02:49,566 --> 00:02:52,534
It's not a measure
of our well-being.

65
00:02:52,534 --> 00:02:57,351
And it shouldn't be a guide 
to all decision making.

66
00:02:57,351 --> 00:03:00,221
But we have ignored Kuznets' warning.

67
00:03:00,221 --> 00:03:01,777
We live in a world where

68
00:03:01,777 --> 00:03:04,900
GDP is the benchmark of success

69
00:03:04,900 --> 00:03:07,177
in a global economy.

70
00:03:07,177 --> 00:03:10,406
Our politicians boast when
GDP goes up.

71
00:03:10,406 --> 00:03:11,690
Markets move

72
00:03:11,690 --> 00:03:13,564
and trillions of dollars of capital

73
00:03:13,564 --> 00:03:14,988
move around the world

74
00:03:14,988 --> 00:03:16,739
based on which countries
are going up

75
00:03:16,739 --> 00:03:18,580
and which countries 
are going down,

76
00:03:18,580 --> 00:03:21,204
all measured in GDP.

77
00:03:21,204 --> 00:03:22,533
Our societies have become

78
00:03:22,533 --> 00:03:26,908
engines to create more GDP.

79
00:03:26,908 --> 00:03:30,443
But we know that GDP is flawed.

80
00:03:30,443 --> 00:03:32,973
It ignores the environment.

81
00:03:32,973 --> 00:03:36,629
It counts bombs and prisons as progress.

82
00:03:36,629 --> 00:03:39,871
It can't count happiness or community.

83
00:03:39,878 --> 00:03:44,621
And it has nothing to say 
about fairness or justice.

84
00:03:44,621 --> 00:03:47,321
Is it any surprise that our world,

85
00:03:47,324 --> 00:03:50,155
marching to the drumbeat of GDP,

86
00:03:50,155 --> 00:03:53,432
is teetering on the brink
of environmental disaster

87
00:03:53,432 --> 00:03:56,938
and filled with anger and conflict?

88
00:03:56,938 --> 00:04:01,331
We need a better way
to measure our societies,

89
00:04:01,341 --> 00:04:06,724
a measure based on the real 
things that matter to real people.

90
00:04:06,724 --> 00:04:08,686
Do I have enough to eat?

91
00:04:08,686 --> 00:04:10,762
Can I read and write?

92
00:04:10,762 --> 00:04:12,500
Am I safe?

93
00:04:12,500 --> 00:04:14,655
Do I have rights?

94
00:04:14,655 --> 00:04:17,784
Do I live in a society where
I'm not discriminated against?

95
00:04:17,784 --> 00:04:24,222
Is my future and the future of my children 
prevented from environmental destruction?

96
00:04:24,222 --> 00:04:26,113
These are questions that GDP

97
00:04:26,113 --> 00:04:31,016
does not and cannot answer.

98
00:04:31,016 --> 00:04:32,535
There have, of course,

99
00:04:32,535 --> 00:04:33,921
been efforts in the past

100
00:04:33,921 --> 00:04:36,563
to move beyond GDP.

101
00:04:36,563 --> 00:04:37,938
But I believe that we're living

102
00:04:37,938 --> 00:04:39,212
in a moment when we

103
00:04:39,212 --> 00:04:42,952
are ready for a measurement revolution.

104
00:04:42,952 --> 00:04:45,628
We're ready because we've seen,

105
00:04:45,628 --> 00:04:47,862
in the financial crisis of 2008,

106
00:04:47,862 --> 00:04:50,681
how our fetish for economic growth

107
00:04:50,681 --> 00:04:52,712
led us so far astray.

108
00:04:52,712 --> 00:04:55,096
We've seen, in the Arab Spring,

109
00:04:55,096 --> 00:04:56,941
how countries like Tunisia

110
00:04:56,941 --> 00:04:59,691
were supposedly economic superstars,

111
00:04:59,691 --> 00:05:01,216
but they were societies

112
00:05:01,216 --> 00:05:04,495
that were seething with discontentment.

113
00:05:04,495 --> 00:05:08,183
We're ready, because today
we have the technology

114
00:05:08,183 --> 00:05:10,498
to gather and analyze data

115
00:05:10,498 --> 00:05:14,545
in ways that would have been
unimaginable to Kuznets.

116
00:05:14,545 --> 00:05:19,428
Today, I'd like to introduce you 
to the Social Progress Index.

117
00:05:19,428 --> 00:05:22,155
It's a measure of the 
well-being of society,

118
00:05:22,155 --> 00:05:24,912
completely separate from GDP.

119
00:05:24,912 --> 00:05:28,563
It's a whole new way
of looking at the world.

120
00:05:28,569 --> 00:05:30,179
The Social Progress Index

121
00:05:30,179 --> 00:05:31,502
begins by defining what it

122
00:05:31,502 --> 00:05:33,449
means to be a good society

123
00:05:33,449 --> 00:05:36,940
based around three dimensions.

124
00:05:36,940 --> 00:05:41,035
The first is, does everyone have
the basic needs for survival:

125
00:05:41,035 --> 00:05:43,885
food, water, shelter, safety?

126
00:05:43,885 --> 00:05:46,605
Secondly, does everyone have

127
00:05:46,605 --> 00:05:49,436
access to the building blocks 
to improve their lives:

128
00:05:49,436 --> 00:05:53,948
education, information, health
and sustainable environment?

129
00:05:53,948 --> 00:05:57,632
And then third, does every 
individual have access

130
00:05:57,632 --> 00:06:00,412
to a chance to pursue their goals

131
00:06:00,412 --> 00:06:02,260
and dreams and ambitions

132
00:06:02,260 --> 00:06:03,417
free from obstacles?

133
00:06:03,417 --> 00:06:04,964
Do they have rights,

134
00:06:04,964 --> 00:06:06,353
freedom of choice,

135
00:06:06,353 --> 00:06:07,875
freedom from discrimination

136
00:06:07,875 --> 00:06:11,336
and access to the the world's
most advanced knowledge?

137
00:06:11,336 --> 00:06:14,700
Together, these 12 components

138
00:06:14,700 --> 00:06:18,035
form the Social Progress framework.

139
00:06:18,035 --> 00:06:20,123
And for each of these 12 components,

140
00:06:20,123 --> 00:06:23,554
we have indicators to measure 
how countries are performing.

141
00:06:23,554 --> 00:06:26,683
Not indicators of effort or intention,

142
00:06:26,683 --> 00:06:28,931
but real achievement.

143
00:06:28,931 --> 00:06:32,133
We don't measure how much
a country spends on healthcare,

144
00:06:32,133 --> 00:06:36,446
we measure the length and 
quality of people's lives.

145
00:06:36,446 --> 00:06:41,045
We don't measure whether governments
pass laws against discrimination,

146
00:06:41,045 --> 00:06:45,475
we measure whether people 
experience discrimination.

147
00:06:45,475 --> 00:06:46,835
But what you want to know

148
00:06:46,835 --> 00:06:49,851
is who's top, don't you?
(Laughter)

149
00:06:49,851 --> 00:06:51,668
I knew that, I knew that, I knew that.

150
00:06:51,668 --> 00:06:53,194
Okay, I'm going to show you.

151
00:06:53,194 --> 00:06:55,590
I'm going to show you on this chart.

152
00:06:55,590 --> 00:06:56,934
So here we are,

153
00:06:56,934 --> 00:07:01,140
what I've done here is put on the 
vertical axis social progress.

154
00:07:01,146 --> 00:07:02,481
Higher is better.

155
00:07:02,481 --> 00:07:04,503
And then, just for comparison,

156
00:07:04,503 --> 00:07:05,825
just for fun,

157
00:07:05,825 --> 00:07:09,684
on the horizontal axis
is GDP per capita.

158
00:07:09,693 --> 00:07:11,583
Further to the right is more.

159
00:07:11,583 --> 00:07:14,737
So the country in the world

160
00:07:14,737 --> 00:07:18,127
with the highest social progress,

161
00:07:18,127 --> 00:07:21,486
the number one country on social progress

162
00:07:21,486 --> 00:07:24,882
is New Zealand.

163
00:07:24,882 --> 00:07:28,398
(Applause)

164
00:07:28,398 --> 00:07:31,215
Well done! Never been; must go.

165
00:07:31,215 --> 00:07:33,537
(Laughter)

166
00:07:33,537 --> 00:07:36,399
The country with the least social progress,

167
00:07:36,399 --> 00:07:38,714
I'm sorry to say, is Chad.

168
00:07:38,716 --> 00:07:41,638
I've never been; maybe next year.

169
00:07:41,638 --> 00:07:43,447
(Laughter)

170
00:07:43,447 --> 00:07:45,639
Or maybe the year after.

171
00:07:45,639 --> 00:07:47,212
Now, I know what you're thinking.

172
00:07:47,212 --> 00:07:48,592
You're thinking, "Aha,

173
00:07:48,592 --> 00:07:50,988
but New Zealand has a higher GDP

174
00:07:50,988 --> 00:07:52,850
than Chad!"

175
00:07:52,850 --> 00:07:55,344
It's a good point, well made.

176
00:07:55,344 --> 00:07:56,806
But let me show you

177
00:07:56,806 --> 00:07:58,069
two other countries.

178
00:07:58,069 --> 00:08:00,495
Here's the United States —

179
00:08:00,495 --> 00:08:03,242
considerably richer than New Zealand,

180
00:08:03,242 --> 00:08:05,688
but with a lower level of social progress.

181
00:08:05,688 --> 00:08:08,340
And then here's Senegal —

182
00:08:08,340 --> 00:08:12,337
it's got a higher level of 
social progress than Chad,

183
00:08:12,337 --> 00:08:14,286
but the same level of GDP.

184
00:08:14,286 --> 00:08:16,035
So what's going on? Well, look.

185
00:08:16,035 --> 00:08:18,536
Let me bring in the rest of 
the countries of the world,

186
00:08:18,536 --> 00:08:20,744
the 132 we've been able to measure,

187
00:08:20,744 --> 00:08:23,082
each one represented by a dot.

188
00:08:23,082 --> 00:08:24,581
There we go. Lots of dots.

189
00:08:24,581 --> 00:08:26,323
Now, obviously I can't do all of them,

190
00:08:26,323 --> 00:08:28,056
so a few highlights for you:

191
00:08:28,056 --> 00:08:32,876
The highest ranked G7 country is Canada.

192
00:08:32,876 --> 00:08:34,980
My country, the United Kingdom,

193
00:08:34,980 --> 00:08:37,697
is sort of middling, sort of dull,

194
00:08:37,697 --> 00:08:39,062
but who cares —

195
00:08:39,062 --> 00:08:41,240
at least we beat the French.

196
00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,167
(Laughter)

197
00:08:48,737 --> 00:08:51,004
And then looking at the 
emerging economies,

198
00:08:51,004 --> 00:08:54,338
top of the BRICS, 
pleased to say, is Brazil.

199
00:08:54,338 --> 00:08:56,044
(Applause)

200
00:08:56,044 --> 00:08:57,831
Come on, cheer!

201
00:08:57,831 --> 00:08:59,773
Go, Brazil!

202
00:08:59,773 --> 00:09:01,306
Beating South Africa,

203
00:09:01,306 --> 00:09:02,599
then Russia,

204
00:09:02,599 --> 00:09:03,733
then China

205
00:09:03,733 --> 00:09:05,307
and then India.

206
00:09:05,307 --> 00:09:07,672
Tucked away on the right-hand side,

207
00:09:07,672 --> 00:09:11,025
you will see a dot of a 
country with a lot of GDP

208
00:09:11,025 --> 00:09:12,968
but not a huge amount 
of social progress —

209
00:09:12,968 --> 00:09:14,946
that's Kuwait.

210
00:09:14,946 --> 00:09:16,637
Just above Brazil

211
00:09:16,637 --> 00:09:18,956
is a social progress superpower —

212
00:09:18,956 --> 00:09:20,456
that's Costa Rica.

213
00:09:20,456 --> 00:09:24,431
It's got a level of social progress the same 
as some Western European countries,

214
00:09:24,431 --> 00:09:26,400
with a much lower GDP.

215
00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:28,682
Now, my slide is getting 
a little cluttered

216
00:09:28,682 --> 00:09:30,364
and I'd like to step back a bit.

217
00:09:30,364 --> 00:09:31,818
So let me take away these countries,

218
00:09:31,818 --> 00:09:34,732
and then pop in the regression line.

219
00:09:34,732 --> 00:09:36,385
So this shows the average relationship

220
00:09:36,385 --> 00:09:38,896
between GDP and social progress.

221
00:09:38,896 --> 00:09:41,138
The first thing to notice,

222
00:09:41,138 --> 00:09:42,993
is that there's lots of noise

223
00:09:42,993 --> 00:09:44,690
around the trend line.

224
00:09:44,690 --> 00:09:46,275
And what this shows,

225
00:09:46,275 --> 00:09:49,157
what this empirically demonstrates,

226
00:09:49,157 --> 00:09:52,192
is that GDP is not destiny.

227
00:09:52,192 --> 00:09:55,395
At every level of GDP per capita,

228
00:09:55,395 --> 00:09:58,593
there are opportunities
for more social progress,

229
00:09:58,593 --> 00:10:00,596
risks of less.

230
00:10:00,596 --> 00:10:02,056
The second thing to notice

231
00:10:02,056 --> 00:10:04,559
is that for poor countries,

232
00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:06,532
the curve is really steep.

233
00:10:06,532 --> 00:10:07,807
So what this tells us is that

234
00:10:07,807 --> 00:10:09,060
if poor countries can get

235
00:10:09,060 --> 00:10:10,954
a little bit of extra GDP,

236
00:10:10,954 --> 00:10:12,737
and if they reinvest that

237
00:10:12,737 --> 00:10:15,409
in doctors, nurses, water supplies,

238
00:10:15,409 --> 00:10:16,782
sanitation, etc.,

239
00:10:16,782 --> 00:10:18,801
there's a lot of social progress bang

240
00:10:18,801 --> 00:10:20,387
for your GDP buck.

241
00:10:20,387 --> 00:10:23,962
And that's good news, and that's what 
we've seen over the last 20, 30 years,

242
00:10:23,962 --> 00:10:25,963
with a lot of people lifted out of poverty

243
00:10:25,963 --> 00:10:28,173
by economic growth and good policies

244
00:10:28,173 --> 00:10:30,045
in poorer countries.

245
00:10:30,045 --> 00:10:32,242
But go on a bit further up the curve,

246
00:10:32,242 --> 00:10:34,351
and then we see it flattening out.

247
00:10:34,351 --> 00:10:36,603
Each extra dollar of GDP

248
00:10:36,603 --> 00:10:39,839
is buying less and less social progress.

249
00:10:39,839 --> 00:10:42,513
And with more and more
of the world's population

250
00:10:42,513 --> 00:10:45,076
living on this part of the curve,

251
00:10:45,076 --> 00:10:47,300
it means GDP is becoming

252
00:10:47,300 --> 00:10:49,084
less and less useful

253
00:10:49,084 --> 00:10:51,600
as a guide to our development.

254
00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,747
I'll show you an example of Brazil.

255
00:10:53,747 --> 00:10:54,970
Here's Brazil:

256
00:10:54,970 --> 00:10:57,837
social progress of about 70 out of 100,

257
00:10:57,841 --> 00:11:00,335
GDP per capita about 
14,000 dollars a year.

258
00:11:00,335 --> 00:11:03,256
And look, Brazil's above the line.

259
00:11:03,256 --> 00:11:05,142
Brazil is doing a reasonably good job

260
00:11:05,142 --> 00:11:08,467
of turning GDP into social progress.

261
00:11:08,467 --> 00:11:10,454
But where does Brazil go next?

262
00:11:10,454 --> 00:11:11,966
Let's say that Brazil

263
00:11:11,966 --> 00:11:13,738
adopts a bold economic plan

264
00:11:13,738 --> 00:11:16,041
to double GDP in the next decade.

265
00:11:16,041 --> 00:11:19,657
But that is only half a plan.

266
00:11:19,657 --> 00:11:21,934
It's less than half a plan,

267
00:11:21,934 --> 00:11:25,182
because where does Brazil
want to go on social progress?

268
00:11:25,186 --> 00:11:27,504
Brazil, it's possible

269
00:11:27,504 --> 00:11:29,239
to increase your growth,

270
00:11:29,239 --> 00:11:30,816
increase your GDP,

271
00:11:30,816 --> 00:11:32,706
while stagnating or going backwards

272
00:11:32,706 --> 00:11:34,055
on social progress.

273
00:11:34,055 --> 00:11:35,241
We don't want Brazil

274
00:11:35,241 --> 00:11:36,973
to become like Russia.

275
00:11:36,973 --> 00:11:39,288
What you really want is for Brazil

276
00:11:39,288 --> 00:11:44,241
to get ever more efficient at creating 
social progress from its GDP,

277
00:11:44,241 --> 00:11:46,539
so it becomes more like New Zealand.

278
00:11:46,539 --> 00:11:48,119
And what that means is that

279
00:11:48,119 --> 00:11:50,776
Brazil needs to prioritize social progress

280
00:11:50,776 --> 00:11:52,468
in its development plan

281
00:11:52,468 --> 00:11:54,880
and see that it's not just growth alone,

282
00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,532
it's growth with social progress.

283
00:11:57,532 --> 00:12:00,150
And that's what the Social 
Progress Index does:

284
00:12:00,150 --> 00:12:02,760
It reframes the debate about development,

285
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:04,820
not just about GDP alone,

286
00:12:04,820 --> 00:12:07,399
but inclusive, sustainable growth

287
00:12:07,399 --> 00:12:11,818
that brings real improvements 
in people's lives.

288
00:12:11,818 --> 00:12:14,394
And it's not just about countries.

289
00:12:14,394 --> 00:12:17,184
Earlier this year,

290
00:12:17,184 --> 00:12:21,751
with our friends from the Imazon 
nonprofit here in Brazil,

291
00:12:21,751 --> 00:12:26,408
we launched the first subnational 
Social Progress Index.

292
00:12:26,408 --> 00:12:28,868
We did it for the Amazon region.

293
00:12:28,868 --> 00:12:32,655
It's an area the size of 
Europe, 24 million people,

294
00:12:32,656 --> 00:12:35,084
one of the most deprived 
parts of the country.

295
00:12:35,084 --> 00:12:36,994
And here are the results,

296
00:12:36,994 --> 00:12:38,629
and this is broken down

297
00:12:38,629 --> 00:12:42,133
into nearly 800 different municipalities.

298
00:12:42,133 --> 00:12:43,816
And with this detailed information

299
00:12:43,816 --> 00:12:46,034
about the real quality of life

300
00:12:46,034 --> 00:12:47,977
in this part of the country,

301
00:12:47,977 --> 00:12:49,957
Imazon and other partners

302
00:12:49,957 --> 00:12:52,286
from government, 
business and civil society

303
00:12:52,286 --> 00:12:54,000
can work together to construct

304
00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:55,677
a development plan

305
00:12:55,677 --> 00:12:58,014
that will help really improve
people's lives,

306
00:12:58,014 --> 00:13:01,250
while protecting that 
precious global asset

307
00:13:01,250 --> 00:13:04,221
that is the Amazon Rainforest.

308
00:13:04,221 --> 00:13:06,122
And this is just the beginning,

309
00:13:06,122 --> 00:13:08,501
You can create a Social Progress Index

310
00:13:08,501 --> 00:13:13,656
for any state, region, 
city or municipality.

311
00:13:13,656 --> 00:13:15,729
We all know and love TEDx;

312
00:13:15,729 --> 00:13:17,971
this is Social Pogress-x.

313
00:13:17,971 --> 00:13:21,165
This is a tool for anyone to come and use.

314
00:13:21,165 --> 00:13:24,045
Contrary to the way we 
sometimes talk about it,

315
00:13:24,045 --> 00:13:30,365
GDP was not handed down from 
God on tablets of stone. (Laughter)

316
00:13:30,365 --> 00:13:34,360
It's a measurement tool
invented in the 20th century

317
00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:39,152
to address the challenges
of the 20th century.

318
00:13:39,152 --> 00:13:41,004
In the 21st century,

319
00:13:41,004 --> 00:13:43,456
we face new challenges:

320
00:13:43,456 --> 00:13:46,564
aging, obesity, climate change, and so on.

321
00:13:46,564 --> 00:13:48,223
To face those challenges,

322
00:13:48,223 --> 00:13:50,243
we need new tools of measurement,

323
00:13:50,243 --> 00:13:53,997
new ways of valuing progress.

324
00:13:53,997 --> 00:13:56,395
Imagine if we could measure

325
00:13:56,395 --> 00:13:58,925
what nonprofits, charities,

326
00:13:58,925 --> 00:14:00,894
volunteers, civil society organizations

327
00:14:00,894 --> 00:14:04,700
really contribute to our society.

328
00:14:04,700 --> 00:14:07,768
Imagine if businesses competed

329
00:14:07,768 --> 00:14:11,179
not just on the basis of
their economic contribution,

330
00:14:11,179 --> 00:14:15,003
but on their contribution 
to social progress.

331
00:14:15,003 --> 00:14:18,950
Imagine if we could hold 
politicians to account

332
00:14:18,950 --> 00:14:23,146
for really improving people's lives.

333
00:14:23,146 --> 00:14:26,131
Imagine if we could work together —

334
00:14:26,131 --> 00:14:31,199
government, business, 
civil society, me, you —

335
00:14:31,199 --> 00:14:36,690
and make this century the 
century of social progress.

336
00:14:36,704 --> 00:14:37,783
Thank you.

337
00:14:37,783 --> 00:14:43,815
(Applause)