Rating nations by GDP 'skewed' (The Province)

6/25/2009 4:37:56 PM

The more people smoke or end up in jail, the higher the Gross Domestic Product.

And as pollution levels rise, forcing governments to clean up after industry, the GDP sails ever higher.

It's examples like these that show how the nation's GDP as a measurement of the country's success and vitality provides a skewed picture of the health and well-being of Canadians, says Roy Romanow, former premier of Saskatchewan and now chairman of the University of Waterloo's Institute of Wellbeing."

The first three reports in an eight-part series on a new "index of well-being" was released by the institute yesterday. The reports used data from Statistics Canada, market-research firms and other sources to evaluate living standards, the health of populations and community vitality.

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Jeanette Stewart

The Province

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