Beyond GDP: estimating the social progress for Pakistan

Abstract

The concept of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has mostly encompassed economic as well as social well-being of a society. While the significance of GDP as an economic indicator cannot be dismissed, a growing number of researchers over the past few decades have called for analysis beyond GDP to gauge social well-being, instead of the common method of using per capita GDP as a social welfare proxy. In this paper, we question whether there is any relationship between GDP and social progress for Pakistan. In this regard, we attempt to construct and adapt the Social Progress Index (SPI) for Pakistan, to show comparisons between SPI and GDP over a period of 13 years and find a significant and negative relationship between GDP and SPI at an aggregate level. However, once we break it down into Components and Dimensions, the results vary.