Does GDP Tell The Full Story Of How Well A Country Is Doing?

[Opiate32]

Sometimes I think about is how we measure whether a country is doing well economically. A country can report economic growth but that doesn’t necessarily mean that life is easier for the people living in that country. Someone may be working long hours, spend more on basic needs and still struggle to save anything at the end of the month. There are also the works that people do without getting paid even though this kinds of works doesn’t get to appear in headline GDP figures.

I know GDP has it purpose and I’m not saying that economic growth doesn’t matter. I just wonder whether we sometimes focus so much on the numbers that we forget to ask what does numbers actually mean for ordinary people.

If the country’s GDP keeps growing but most people don’t feel any improvement in their daily lives, should we still all that economic progress? Why or why not?

[Joy_learns_crypto]

To determine how well a country is doing or trying to distinguish between two countries which is economically above the other you have to check their GDP

GDP which is Gross domestic product, and if you want to be critical, Gross domestic product is not just a manufactured number, there are key items and points checked to calculate a countries GDP it's so broad in compasses even to the average employee. It may not tell the full story but it tells so much .

[Italian Panic]

Oh well, GDP can be one of the indicators of a country’s well being, but care must be taken not to place too much weight on it as a measure, as it always refers to an average value.
GDP does not take into account how wealth is distributed, nor does it account for individuals’ quality of life and health.
For example, in the United States, GDP is high, but access to medical and healthcare services is now almost exclusively limited to an elite section of the population, whilst wealth is also concentrated in certain areas and amongst a small section of the population.

[Crypto Library]

Sometimes I think about is how we measure whether a country is doing well economically. A country can report economic growth but that doesn’t necessarily mean that life is easier for the people living in that country. Someone may be working long hours, spend more on basic needs and still struggle to save anything at the end of the month. There are also the works that people do without getting paid even though this kinds of works doesn’t get to appear in headline GDP figures.

I know GDP has it purpose and I’m not saying that economic growth doesn’t matter. I just wonder whether we sometimes focus so much on the numbers that we forget to ask what does numbers actually mean for ordinary people.

If the country’s GDP keeps growing but most people don’t feel any improvement in their daily lives, should we still all that economic progress? Why or why not?

Actually, I will say here that GDP is definitely an important indicator to understand the economic situation of a country. But I think that GDP alone is not enough to indicate the quality of life of the people of that country. Because GDP is the entire financial situation of a country and per capita income only means the average income of the people of that country. But it is not the case that everyone earns the same income or everyone belongs to the same financial situation.
For example, if I give my country as an example, here the per capita income is $ 3,020 dollars but I doubt that ten percent of the population of our country earns this income.

Anyway, what I want to say here is that UNDP, a UN agency, uses several methods to measure the quality of life of people - Like Health and Life expectancy. Which is basically called HDI(Human Development Index). Apart from that, there are some more included in it. For example - World Happiness Report, MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index).

And I think that the proper calculation of all these things can ultimately tell us what the real situation of the people of a country is like, I think GDP alone can never tell the full story.

[Gozie51]

If the country’s GDP keeps growing but most people don’t feel any improvement in their daily lives, should we still all that economic progress? Why or why not?

Actually if you check various economic information online regarding this topic, you would see that GDP which is Gross Domestic Product is deficient and limited to be an accurate measure of economic growth and wellbeing of the people. GDP records income of the people but it doesn't say how biting inflation is in taking away the value of that same income. It is not accurate in measuring the proportional distribution of wealth across different classes of people and profession. And so, it can't quantify the variations is salaries and values of production over time as inflation keeps rising and fluctuating.

I think the most important thing is to look for the tool that can take proper account of people's challenges like health, feeding, shelter and know how it really impact on peoples income and wellbeing.

[Majestic-milf]

 Not really. Gross Domestic Product doesn't completely tell you how prosperous a country is, rather it just gives the total sum of the monetary value of goods and services that is produced in a country. GDP focuses mainly on a small, successful fraction of the country, failing to capture everything, while most of the citizens are left in poverty.
A GDP can take account of money spent purchasing weapons of war the same way it will catalogue spending on hospitals which isn't giving complete records if you ask me.
 There are ways to accurately determine how well a country is doing by making use of these tools;

Human development Index(HDI); This one focuses on income combined with life expectancy and education

Social Progess Index (SPI); This measures basic human needs, safety, rights and wellness.

GDP per capita
More on this can be gotten here: ways to measure economic health

[Accardo]

GDP is influenced by aggregate demand, it determines the adequate number of goods and services that'll sell at all possible price level. When the AD increases, GDP increases too, followed by an increase in consumers demand, therefore signaling the need for wage increase. Some companies that increases wages after an increase in GDP, meet up with an increase in production price which ends up affecting the price of products.

Seeing an increment in demand, and price, workers will, again, demand for an increase in wages since the price of products are higher, this is called wages price spiraling, another way of hitting inflation on the long run, if the company continues to follow this cycle. So, when GDP increases, depending on the sector that facilitated the increase in GDP, some companies can't increase wages, especially when they've hired underpaid workers.

[Alpha Marine]

No, GDP does not tell the full story. It only tells part of the story.
GDP is like the market cap of coins. It's nice to have a high market cap, but that does not tell the full story. If a coin has a large amount of coins in circulation, its market cap will be high.

To understand the full story in a country, there are other factors you have to consider, like quality of life (health, social and environmental indicators), inflation, unemployment rate, security, political stability, per capita income, life expectancy, ease of doing business and how likely that business succeeds, respect for human rights, and many other things I can't think of right now.
So you have to look at these things to understand the state of things on the ground in a country.

If we use Norway and Brazil, for example. Norway has a GDP of about $530 billion, while Brazil has a GDP of about $2.6 trillion, but we both know which country is better.
When you look at the average income and employment rate of both countries, you will see that Norway is doing way better than Brazil. However, this doesn't mean GDP is insignificant, it just means that when comparing countries or talking about how well a country is doing, it is not the only factor to consider.

[_act_]

I know GDP has it purpose and I’m not saying that economic growth doesn’t matter. I just wonder whether we sometimes focus so much on the numbers that we forget to ask what does numbers actually mean for ordinary people.

GDP can be used to know the quality of living in a country and it can also be used to know the economy of a country, but it can be used to determine it when the population of the country has been compared with other countries. More population should mean more GDP, but also compared it with the population in a good economy. I can easily know how the economy of a country is and their quality of living through just their GDP.

[Hewlet]

If the country’s GDP keeps growing but most people don’t feel any improvement in their daily lives, should we still all that economic progress? Why or why not?

Take note that the GDP measures only one thing and that is the total value of everything that is produced within a country. it does not capture the informal economy. if GDP growth comes mainly from sectors like oil and gas and big multinational companies, the growth can only be felt by the companies and the government and might not really be reflected on the people.

An increasing population and the issue of inflation can still eat up everything that comes with the GDP which is why what is reported on paper is mostly different from what is actually the case in real time. the best way to measure GDP is to take it side by side with with variables like inflation rate, unemployment, poverty rate, and even human development index. if these are properly factored out, whatever final outcome that is pushed out can at least come close to what an average masses is facing.

[348Judah]

With my own understanding I will say yes because for you to determine how progressive a particular country is in terms of their economic activities, then you have to look for the GDP of that country and see their performance over the time, this will tell more about their import and export rates as well as how their economy has been boosted over the years with the growth the have experience between them more independent because of their increase in productivities.

[Nasdel4]

Sometimes I think about is how we measure whether a country is doing well economically. A country can report economic growth but that doesn’t necessarily mean that life is easier for the people living in that country. Someone may be working long hours, spend more on basic needs and still struggle to save anything at the end of the month. There are also the works that people do without getting paid even though this kinds of works doesn’t get to appear in headline GDP figures.

I know GDP has it purpose and I’m not saying that economic growth doesn’t matter. I just wonder whether we sometimes focus so much on the numbers that we forget to ask what does numbers actually mean for ordinary people.

If the country’s GDP keeps growing but most people don’t feel any improvement in their daily lives, should we still all that economic progress? Why or why not?

The fact that GDP measures the economic performance of a country doesn't necessarily mean it really tells us how well the people are living . I see a situation where the GDP increased yearly yet people in those said countries are starving, lack of job opportunities, poor health system and generally high cost of living where people can't even afford the basics of life anymore.
Yes the GDP may increase significantly over time but let's not be confused but convinced that the benefits do not go to the masses but to a selected few. Is that how it should be? Absolutely not but it's just a situation and this could change over time with proper management and accountability.
I agree that GDP is actually a measure of the country's economic performance but it's not entirely the measure of the country's success because if the people are not affected by the growth of their GDP then what's really going on?

[Xackie]

To me I fell the  GDP only tells if a country economy is experiencing growth or not but doesn't tell if the citizens are also experiencing that same growth.  Gdp is only concerned about a countries output which can be Production, consumer spending, Business investment, Export and many more.  A country can have higher GDP yet the cost of living is higher.  According to the IMF it was projected that Nigeria GDP will rise by 4.3% to 4.4% and I am sure these forecast came from our oil sector (Dangote's refinery). An increase of oil production or refining activities from his refinery can contribute to the economy growth . Like i said before this doesn't tell whether this economic growth is actually improving the living conditions of ordinary Nigerians. Even with the growth, people recieve low wages and inflation maks the consumer to spend more on food, transportation, fuel,rents, people's purchasing power remains weak.  Government shouldn't focus  too much on statistics written on paper,  instead focus on people welfare which are increase in employment, better wages,  reduction of inflation, access to health care etc. This can then tell us if a country is actually growing.

[Russlenat]

Sometimes I think about is how we measure whether a country is doing well economically. A country can report economic growth but that doesn’t necessarily mean that life is easier for the people living in that country.

It's possible if the report is fake or inaccurate.
If you have a corrupt government, there's a possibility that the report has been manipulated and does not reflect the real economic situation of the country.
That's when you see people still struggling to afford even their basic needs.

Someone may be working long hours, spend more on basic needs and still struggle to save anything at the end of the month. There are also the works that people do without getting paid even though this kinds of works doesn’t get to appear in headline GDP figures.

It's true that GDP is just a figure, but the people are the ones who can tell whether it reflects the real economic situation.
If they are satisfied with their salaries, if they can send their children to school, afford food and hospitalization, that's a sign that the country's economy is doing well and that the people running the government are doing their jobs properly.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Things GDP counts as "growth":

• Rent going up 20%? Growth.
• Two hours stuck in traffic burning fuel? Growth.
• A mother raising three kids and taking care of a grandpa? Zero, didn't happen.

It also says nothing about who got the growth. If one guy's income goes up a billion and a million people lose a bit, the average still looks great on TV. Bill Gates walks into a bar and suddenly everyone inside is a millionaire on average.

But I'm sure people even in this thread will find some moronic justification for why it's useful for our lives.

[Rockstarguy]

I know GDP has it purpose and I’m not saying that economic growth doesn’t matter. I just wonder whether we sometimes focus so much on the numbers that we forget to ask what does numbers actually mean for ordinary people.

If the country’s GDP keeps growing but most people don’t feel any improvement in their daily lives, should we still all that economic progress? Why or why not?

For a country that is involved in several productions, services would always have a good GDP record, and this is what the government normally uses to deceive the citizens into believing that they are really working very hard.

But if the government claims to have a good GDP record and that the economy is doing well, yet the average citizen is not feeling the effects of a better economy, then the government still has a lot of work to do. A better economy is not just reflected in the GDP record; common citizens must be able to feel it very well.

[Freeveto]

I know GDP has it purpose and I’m not saying that economic growth doesn’t matter. I just wonder whether we sometimes focus so much on the numbers that we forget to ask what does numbers actually mean for ordinary people.

If the country’s GDP keeps growing but most people don’t feel any improvement in their daily lives, should we still all that economic progress? Why or why not?

The GDP is a data that shows how the country has been running their economy, is there a progress or not, the GDP report shows it, but it is for the country at large, it is not related to individual or how the money been made affected the individual citizens.

Our country can have good rise in their overall GDP, but the citizens can be suffering fine inflation, and the government might not even care to provide opportunities for the average citizens to make some leaving, they will be after how will their GDP rise and most of these money come through revenue from the citizens and some of these goods produced and exported.

[YOSHIE]

If the country’s GDP keeps growing but most people don’t feel any improvement in their daily lives, should we still all that economic progress? Why or why not?

Are you talking about Gross Domestic Product in short (GDP) if yes.
As far as I know, a country only measures the total monetary value of goods, meaning the country does not reveal the whole picture.
For this reason, it can be said that the distribution of GDP income in the distribution gap is uneven, only in certain social gaps, therefore in a situation like this it is clear that economic growth has no impact on the quality of life and welfare of society at large, only indesignation for certain territorial boundaries in a country.

In other words, if the GDP phenomenon is not prosperous in the economic sector and does not have an impact on society, in general the state often asks to manage foreign companies, the constraints are in the technology sector and domestic capital or more clearly investment from abroad, If this situation occurs in one country, it can be said that GDP/profit income will potentially flow back abroad, so that the economic cycle in a particular country/region is unstable and will look normal even though there is large production activity in that country, for example we canlook at African countries with large GDP/profit revenues but the economy has no impact on society at large.

[Livingleged]

To me I don’t think it will be right to tell that economic growth is determined by GDP alone. GDP growth of a particular country means that a country is actually producing more good and services, but that will not mean that the ordinary people are becoming better. Let the the cost of food, housing, transportation and others basic need keep rising and wages remain low, people will still continue struggle even when the economy is growing.

GDP remains an important measure, but it only tell small part of the story. Even if the economy grows and there is no improvement in ordinary people’s living conditions then it’s questionable to ask who is benefiting from the economy.

[Alvin_talk]

In my book, GDP is just a number if other economic indicators are not well managed; employment rate, minimum wage, pension packages, and inflation rate of a country. Normally, politically backed media usually market GDP as if a country is doing well with that alone, but that's not always the case. A country with an average GDP where every other indicator are good is better than a country with high GDP with very high inflation rate and all that.