BTA Admin Analysts and policymakers say Ghana must adopt broader measures of development that reflect living standards, inequality, environmental sustainability and the realities of the informal economy.
Economists, policymakers and development experts are calling on Ghana to move beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the primary measure of national progress, arguing that economic growth figures alone no longer capture the realities of citizens’ daily lives.
The call was made during a high-level policy convening on “Measuring What Matters in Ghana: Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Beyond GDP,” organised through a partnership between the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), and the University of Ghana.
Participants at the forum argued that while GDP remains an important economic indicator, it fails to account for critical aspects of development such as inequality, unpaid labour, informal economic activity, environmental sustainability and access to essential services.
The growing debate reflects a broader global shift as governments and international institutions increasingly reconsider how economic success should be measured in an era defined by climate risks, widening inequality and social pressures.
GDP growth does not always reflect living conditions
Professor László Pintér, Senior Fellow at IISD, said relying solely on GDP can create development models that generate economic growth while worsening environmental degradation and social inequality.
“By moving beyond GDP, we will not end up with development that creates very high environmental risks and costs or leads to social inequity because we have more holistic metrics that account for those dimensions,” he said.
He added that IISD would support Ghana in developing methodologies to measure areas traditionally excluded from GDP calculations, including unpaid household labour, ecosystem value and broader well-being indicators.
Economists at the forum stressed that strong GDP figures do not necessarily translate into improved living standards for ordinary citizens.
Dr Adu Sarkodie, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, noted that despite household consumption accounting for more than 70% of Ghana’s GDP, many citizens continue to struggle with rising living costs, unemployment and limited access to quality services.
“If the Finance Minister announces a GDP of US$130 billion, the average person still asks: Has my life improved? Can I afford healthcare? Can I pay school fees?” he said.
Dr Sarkodie argued that development policy must increasingly incorporate quality-of-life indicators alongside traditional economic metrics to make policymaking more responsive to social realities.
He pointed to countries such as Norway, Luxembourg, Qatar, Mauritius and Cabo Verde as examples of nations that have integrated broader social and well-being measures into national development planning.
Informal economy remains largely invisible
A major concern raised during the discussions was the limited recognition of Ghana’s vast informal sector within traditional economic measurement systems.
Professor Austin Dziwornu Ablo of the University of Ghana’s Department of Geography said sectors such as street vending, second-hand clothing trade and informal services employ millions of Ghanaians but remain underrepresented in national accounts.
“When we move beyond GDP, we begin to recognise the full economic contribution of these sectors and the people working within them,” he said.
Experts also argued that broader development indicators could help policymakers better address disparities in education, healthcare access, gender equality, environmental sustainability and regional development.
Ghana joins growing global conversation
The discussions align with a growing international movement advocating for alternative development metrics that measure economic resilience, sustainability and human well-being alongside output growth.
The United Nations and several international policy institutions have increasingly supported frameworks that complement GDP with social, environmental and governance indicators.
Ghana’s policymakers and statistical agencies are now being encouraged to develop a national roadmap that combines both quantitative and qualitative measures of development.
Participants also called on educational institutions to update economics and public policy curricula to reflect evolving approaches to development measurement.
The Bottom Line
The push to move beyond GDP reflects growing recognition that economic growth alone does not fully capture the realities of development.
For Ghana, adopting broader indicators could provide policymakers with a more accurate picture of living standards, inequality, sustainability and economic inclusion — particularly in a country where large segments of economic activity remain informal and millions continue to judge economic progress by affordability, jobs and quality of life rather than headline growth figures.
