This TED Talk features First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, recorded live at TED Summit 2019.

Just over a mile away from here in Edinburgh's old town is Pannier House.

Pan Your House was the home of the world-renowned Scottish economist Adam Smith.

In his important work, the wealth of nations, Adam Smith argued, amongst many other things, that the measurement of a country's wealth

was not just its gold and silver reserves. It was the totality of the country's production and

commerce. I guess it was one of the earliest descriptions of what we now know today as gross

domestic product, GDP. Now in the years since, of course, that measurement of production and

commerce GDP has become ever more important.

To the point today, and I don't believe this is what Adam Smith would have intended,

that it is often seen as the most important measurement of a country's overall success.

And my argument today is that it is time for that to change. You know, what we choose to measure as a country matters. It really matters because it

drives political focus. it drives public activity.

And against that context, I think the limitations of GDP as a measurement of a country's

success is all too obvious.

You know, GDP measures the output of all of our work,

but it says nothing about the nature of that work,

about whether that work is worthwhile or fulfilling.

It puts a value, for example, on illegal drug consumption, but not on unpaid care. It values activity in the short

term that boosts the economy, even if that activity is hugely damaging to the sustainability of our planet in the longer term.

And when we reflect on the past decade of political and economic upheaval, of growing inequalities,

and when we look ahead to the challenges of the climate emergency,

increasing automation and ageing population,

...