Gross domestic product remains the dominant metric of progress, but new measures such as healthy lifetime income offer policymakers a clearer and more relevant view of well-being.
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Prettner, K., Zhang, J., Bloom, D.E. et al. GDP alone cannot measure human progress and well-being. Nat. Health (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44360-026-00137-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44360-026-00137-7