Final report - Integrated Land Management Bureau

(Canadian) network of academics and practitioners that is based on current science on
community and individual well-being. The framework includes seven areas that are under
development by a national network of indicator experts who expect to develop a composite index
for the variables, including the Institute for Social Research and Evaluation at the University of
Northern British Columbia and 18 other institutions across Canada. The variables include: living
standards, time allocation, healthy populations, ecosystem health, educated populace,
community vitality, and civic engagement. A composite index has not yet been developed and
work is being done to make this index operational.
3. Genuine Progress Index
Developed by three California researchers in 1995, the Genuine Progress Index (GPI) is an index
that was developed in light of the limitations of Gross Domestic Product in accurately measuring
aspects of societal progress and well-being. The GPI assigns a value to environmental quality,
population health, livelihood security, equity, free time, and educational attainment and consists
of indicators and measures of progress and assessments of the economic value of non-market
social and environmental assets not typically accounted for in economic assessments. The
framework accounts for depreciation and economic costs as liabilities.
The GPI Index has been criticized for what is seen as a subjective selection of indicators and
judgment of whether certain market and non-market activities are good or bad, as well as
difficulties regionalizing the statistics. At the same time, proponents say that the GPI can be used
as a supplement to other indicators because it provides additional information about the trends in
society that have an effect on overall well-being.
The GPI index is used in several parts of Canada, including by the Pembina Institute for Alberta
(http://www.pembina.org). There is an organization called GPI Atlantic that promotes and
educates about the index in the Atlantic provinces (http://www.gpiatlantic.org).
4. Social Determinants of Health
In 2002, 400 social and health policy experts, community representatives, and health researchers
convened a conference entitled “Social Determinants of Health Across the Life-Span” to
consider the state of key social determinants of health across Canada, Research papers and
presentations presented at the conference were synthesized into nine social determinants of
health.
• income inequality
• social inclusion and exclusion
• employment and job security
• working conditions
• contribution of the social economy
• early childhood care
• education
• food security
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