Aus zerknültem Papier wird wieder ein Papierflieger

Today, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is launching an online consultation process to further develop the measurement of well-being in the Annual Economic Report. The aim is to obtain and present the broadest possible public spectrum of opinion on the subject from all interested parties including academia, business, administration and civil society.

State Secretary Sven Giegold said: "Gross domestic product only shows economic performance. While this performance determines prosperity in terms of material conditions, prosperity also has other dimensions. Not all of these are reflected in GDP, including our achievements in climate change mitigation. Nor does GDP currently show any indication of progress made regarding equity. This is why we now want to collect further data on quality of life to complement the data on gross domestic product. These data combined will paint a more accurate picture of our prosperity."

In a second step, the dialogue process will be continued in the form of expert round tables in the second half of the year.

The insights gained in the consultation will form the basis for the further development of the measurement of well-being in the Annual Economic Report 2024 and beyond, which will be coordinated between the ministries.

By including the chapter on measuring well-being in the Annual Economic Report since 2022, the German government has been pursuing the goal of complementing traditional economic policy indicators such as gross domestic product and taking into account other aspects of well-being and sustainability that are of particular importance for the overall assessment of economic and financial policy. To this end, a set of more than 30 individual indicators was developed to reflect various aspects of well-being and to take greater account of ecological and social dimensions in addition to economic key data. The indicators are thus based on the guiding principle of the social-ecological market economy.

The approach used to measure well-being which was first presented in the 2022 Annual Economic Report will be continuously reviewed and improved. After revising the chapter in the 2023 Annual Economic Report, the goal is now to gain new input for developing it further.

The online consultation will run until 6 September 2023.

Participation in the consultation is open to all interested parties by clicking on this Link