Source: The Christensen Fund

In the language of modern economics, the small island nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific is labeled one of the world’s ‘least developed countries’. At the same time, Vanuatu has ranked number one on the pioneering Happy Planet Index. This incongruity points to major issues with today’s standard measures of human progress, and has many policymakers rethinking notions of wealth and how they shape development policy.

Governments and development economists who suggest that economic growth-based assessment is the best way to rank the progress of nations not only neglect to account for people’s real-life experience, but also fail to recognize the natural limits of such growth. Reliance on measures such as gross domestic product (GDP) is resulting in the systematic liquidation of our planet’s natural resources. Efforts underway in places like Melanesia and Bhutan to integrate social and environmental indicators into national development plans are picking up speed and showing us how respecting Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ values can maintain and grow the kind of wealth that reaches the many, rather than the few.

The Christensen Fund produced this short video to highlight the Indicators of Well-being for Melanesia project, a multi-year regional project that we are proud to support.