 Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The value of the goods and services a country produces in a year. GDP is often used to measure the strength of a country’s economy.

 The more money a country has, the higher the standard of living is.  Gross Domestic Product as a measure of prosperity:  Gross domestic product is a widely used measure of the health of a countries economy and prosperity.  Changes in GDP can be used to track the health of countries economy.  To measure how much money individuals in a country have to live on, GDP is averaged over the number of people in the country.  The downside of using average as means to measure GDP is that children are often included in the counting.  When children are counted, can this raise or lower a countries GDP?

 Was developed by the United Nations Development Program  Used to measure the quality of life in UN countries  HDI classifies developed, developing or undeveloped countries  Also measures how economic policies affect the quality of life of a countries' people  Main point is to draw attention to governments, the media, and NGO’S

 In 2006, the UN development program focused on access to clean water and the ability of societies to use water as a productive resource  One billion people don’t have clean drinking water and 1.8 million children die every year because of un-clean water.  According to the UN, the poorest people are paying the most for water.

 Some people believe that gross domestic product leaves out important aspects of prosperity  King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, created a new index that is based on happiness and well being instead of economic growth  The index promotes sustainable social and economic development  Preserves cultural values, natural environment, and good governance

 King is determent to keep Bhutan from being influenced by globalization, he thinks his new index is benefiting his cause.  Advocates of the GPI say that GDP does not measure growth accurately because it does not take individual prosperity into account  The GPI takes into account environmental and social aspects as well as volunteer work, making it more accurate.

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