Remarks by H.E. Annalena Baerbock
President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
at the Informal Consultations of the Co-Facilitators of the intergovernmental process on Beyond GDP and Launch of the final report of the High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP
Thursday, 7 May 2026
Conference Room 2, United Nations
[As Delivered]
Mr. Secretary-General,
Madame Deputy Secretary-General,
Dear Co-Facilitators and Co-Chairs,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Since 1934, Gross Domestic Product¡ªGDP¡ªhas been the world¡¯s defining measure of economic activity.
It was born in a moment of crisis, during the Great Depression, when policymakers urgently needed a way to understand economic collapse.
It served that purpose well.
But more than ninety years later, our world has changed profoundly¡ªyet our primary measure of progress has not.
And we should know better because we have recognized over decades that development is not only economic. It is also social and environmental¡ªit is about resilience, equity, and human well-being.
This broader vision is reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Yet the metric, as has been said, that most often guides policy decisions still captures only a fraction of that reality, and I thank the co-facilitator Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett for quoting the Secretary-General, I had a similar quote here that we so far still benefit from destruction, be it by the forest, that the GDP grows, but even worse by accident¡ªif many people in your country have accidents on the road or a chemical disaster, also this would at that moment increase your GDP because you have to do something to counter it.
The same if a country goes to war, at that moment, you increase your productivity through military action.
So clearly, an updated measure of economic activity is overdue.
And as the co-facilitators have underlined, I am very thankful that Member States have recognized this imperative, and both the 2030 Agenda and the Pact for the Future reflect this, the latter mandating the creation of the High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP.
The final report, now presented, of the Expert Group proposes a dashboard of 31 indicators that complement GDP and build on existing frameworks.
In fact, close to half of the indicators are drawn directly from the Sustainable Development Goals.
These indicators are designed to provide a more complete and policy-relevant picture of progress across economic, social, and environmental dimensions, including the capacity of societies to manage risks, like disasters, and respond to shocks, like crises.
The report¡¯s recommendations include measures to encourage governments to integrate the proposed dashboard of indicators into national policies and practices.
The objective of this report is not to reject GDP, nor to dismiss the importance of economic growth.
Rather, this report addresses the world¡¯s over-reliance on GDP as the dominant measure of success, while taking a critical step toward aligning how we measure progress with how we define it.
While the presentation of this report fulfills the first step mandated in Action 53 of the Pact for the Future, our work does not stop here.
We now enter the next phase of this work: an intergovernmental process conducted by Member States.
This step marks a decisive shift from technical analysis to political decision-making, and therefore requires the active engagement of Member States.
I would like to thank the Co-Facilitators, Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana and Ambassador H¨¦ctor G¨®mez Hern¨¢ndez of Spain, for taking on this ambitious and important task.
It is now up to, you, the Member States to determine how these recommendations will be translated into tangible policies that shape how progress is defined and measured.
This will not be achieved in one meeting, one report, or one negotiating cycle.
Moving beyond an over-reliance on GDP is a long-term process.
It will require sustained effort across governments, national statistical offices, the international community, civil society, academia, and the media.
And it will require us to build trust around new measures that are credible, comparable, and useful for decision-making.
Throughout this process, the General Assembly will provide the inclusive, universal platform needed to build a shared political vision¡ªsupported by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system at all levels.
Excellencies,
More than ninety years after the creation of GDP, we have before us an opportunity to align our economic indicators with our collective vision of sustainable development¡ªone that places people, planet, and prosperity for all at its core.
Today¡¯s launch of the intergovernmental process, together with the presentation of the final report, marks the first concrete step in that direction, and I personally think this is really a milestone.
I encourage all Member States to engage actively and constructively in the consultations ahead¡ªso that this work delivers practical and actionable outcomes that support more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable development pathways.
And also give a push to deliver on the SDGs by 2030.
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