Question

if GDP is a good measure of well-being, why is Switzerland's GDP so much lower than India's GDP or China's GDP? Do you think we need a better measure of well-being? If so what do you suggest.

Answer 1

GDP is the measure of the total final value of goods and services, produced in the economy in a particular period of time or one financial year. It does not reflect the wellbeing of the nation. So, wellbeing of the country of Switzerland cannot be analysed on the basis of GDP. Regarding the comparison of Switzerland with India and China, the total population of Switzerland is 8.5 million (approx.) whereas the population of India and China is well over 1.25 Billion in each country. So, GDP cannot be used as an indicator for the comparison.
To measure the wellbeing of the people in the country, there is a need of different indicators such as life expectancy of the people in the country, quality of life, equality of income and distribution of resources and mortality rate of people as well as children. These indicators show the real social status and living standards of the individuals in their country. Further, these indicators can be used to form one index that will be used to rank the nations on the basis social wellbeing of the populations. A higher value of the index will indicate higher level of wellbeing of the people in that country.