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Governments should prioritize well-being over economic growth

Nature Human Behaviour (2025)Cite this article

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Despite its prominence in public discourse, economic growth does not translate into lasting improvements in well-being. To improve people’s lives, policymakers should shift their focus from economic growth to well-being. We provide example policies that could foster thriving, sustainable and inclusive societies.

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Fig. 1: Long-run relation between gross domestic product per capita growth and changes in subjective well-being.
Fig. 2: Average growth of CO2 emissions track gross domestic product per capita worldwide.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101094546. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Observatoire de la Compétitivité, Ministère de l’Economie, DG Compétitivité, Luxembourg, and STATEC, the National Statistical Office of Luxembourg. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect those of STATEC and funding partners.

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  1. STATEC Research, Belvaux, Luxembourg

    Francesco Sarracino & Kelsey J. O’Connor

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  1. Francesco Sarracino
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  2. Kelsey J. O’Connor
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Correspondence to Francesco Sarracino.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks Simone D’Alessandro, Matthias Schmelzer and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Sarracino, F., J. O’Connor, K. Governments should prioritize well-being over economic growth. Nat Hum Behav (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02277-4

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