Inclusive Wealth Report 2012

The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) proudly announces the launch of the Inclusive Wealth Report 2012 (IWR 2012) at the Rio+20 Conference in Brazil.

The report presents a framework that offers a long-term perspective on human well-being and sustainability, based on a comprehensive analysis of nations´ productive base and their link to economic development.

The IWR 2012 was developed on the notion that current economic production indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI) are insufficient, as they fail to reflect the state of natural resources or ecological conditions, and focus exclusively on the short term, without indicating whether national policies are sustainable.

The IWR 2012 features an index that measures the wealth of nations by looking into a country’s capital assets, including manufactured, human and natural capital, and its corresponding values: the Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI). Results show changes in inclusive wealth from 1990 to 2008, and include a long-term comparison to GDP for an initial group of 20 countries worldwide, which represent 72% of the world GDP and 56% of the global population.

The IWR will be published every two years and will offer policy-makers a practical framework for assessing the state of a country’s productive base. It can also provide guidance on which forms of capital investment should be made to ensure sustainable development. More broadly, the report will be of use to scholars and practitioners working in economics, development studies, environmental and other fields.

The Inclusive Wealth Report 2012 is a joint initiative of UNU-IHDP and UNEP in collaboration with the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC) and the Natural Capital Project.

The Inclusive Wealth Report 2012 was launched at a joint UNU-IHDP and UNEP side event at the Rio+20 Conference in Brazil on June 17 and is available for download on the IHDP website. A hard copy version will be published by Cambridge University Press.

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