"On their deathbed, no one will regret not having contributed enough to GDP"
Sustainable development, as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is grounded in the principle of intergenerational equity. This principle asserts that the needs of the present must be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. However, political, social, and economic decisions often prioritize short-term gains over long-term sustainability, reinforced by the traditional reliance on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the primary measure of progress, development, and well-being.
The GDP measure is limited by its short-term economic focus and its failure to account for other critical dimensions of sustainable development, namely social and environmental, needed for a more comprehensive understanding of well-being for both people and planet. By prioritizing short-term, extractive economic goals, GDP neglects these vital dimensions of sustainability and contributes to unsustainable practices, negative long-term spillover effects, and a “debt to future generations.” This compromises both human well-being and the planet’s long-term viability.
As those who will inherit current economic systems, young people and the needs of future generations must play a central role in shaping the transition toward a framework for measuring progress on sustainable development that complements and goes beyond GDP.
In partnership with Rethinking Economics International and UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the “Youth Moving Beyond GDP” initiative fosters the inclusive and transformative engagement of young people, and promotes the needs and interests of future generations in designing measures of progress on sustainable development that complement and go beyond GDP.
Specifically, the initiative seeks to empower young people through meaningful participation in policymaking and to integrate their perspectives and those of future generations into global convenings and processes on measures that go beyond GDP, thereby “breaking the intergenerational glass ceiling” in economic discourse.
In alignment with SDG 17.19, which calls for the development of measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement GDP, and Action 53 of the Pact for the Future, which reaffirms the urgent need to establish a framework for such measures, this initiative seeks to advance intergenerational equity for long-term sustainability by:
Meaningful and inclusive engagement of young people and integration of intergenerational perspectives into convenings and processes on measures that complement and go beyond GDP.
Publication and dissemination of policy recommendations from young people, including on the needs of future generations, on how to complement and go beyond GDP, and building on insights from the global youth essay competition.
Establishment of a Youth Network to serve as a “sounding board” for Member States and the Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP.
Development of grassroots engagement activities to ensure that intergenerational perspectives remain central to UN-led intergovernmental and national processes, providing a sustained, bottom-up approach to reshaping economic systems.
The "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" initiative stems from the Beyond Lab’s "What’s Next" on Rethinking Economic Systems for Long-term Sustainability, organized in November 2023, which explored how concepts such as beyond GDP can refocus economic systems to support people (both current and future generations) and planet.
In February 2024, the initiative kicked off with the global Essay Competition "What Counts in the Future? A Youth Perspective on Measuring What We Value". The competition invited young people to share their perspectives on values and priorities for frameworks that complement or move beyond GDP. Over 600 essays were submitted, with the top ten essays featured in a joint publication and the top five winners invited to a high-level dialogue in Geneva in April 2024. The insights gathered from this competition form the initiative's foundation.
Since then, multiple dialogues, including official side events of the Summit of the Future Action Days and the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), have been held to formally launch the initiative and ensure that the voices of young people and future generations are central to policymaking.
The global call to join the Youth Network on Beyond GDP is now open. We invite young changemakers from all regions to join and lead the way to rethink economic systems and move beyond GDP.
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