What’s the best country to live in?

Prevodilac: Brana Vladisavljevic Lektor: Milenka Okuka

What’s the best country in the world to live in?

Koja je najbolja zemlja na svetu za život?

Is it the one with the best food? The longest life expectancy?

Da li je to ona sa najboljom hranom? Najdužim životnim vekom?

The best weather?

Najboljom klimom?

For the past 70 years, most governments have relied heavily on a single number

U poslednjih 70 godina, većina vlada se umnogome oslanjala na samo jedan broj

to answer that question.

u odgovoru na to pitanje.

This number influences elections, the stock market, and government policy.

Ovaj broj utiče na izbore, berzu i politiku vlade.

But it was never intended for its current purpose;

Ali on nikada nije bio određen za sadašnju namenu;

and some would argue that the world is addicted to making it grow... forever.

a neki smatraju da je svet postao zavisan od njegovog rasta... u nedogled.

This number is called the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP,

Ovaj broj se zove bruto domaći proizvod ili BDP,

and it was invented by the economist Simon Kuznets in the 1930s,

a izmislio ga je ekonomista Sajmon Kuznec 1930-ih,

to try and gauge the size of an economy in a single, easy to understand number.

u pokušaju da proceni veličinu privrede u jednom lako razumljivom broju.

GDP is the total monetary value of everything a country

BDP je ukupna novčana vrednost svega što neka zemlja

produces and sells on the market.

proizvede i proda na tržištu.

To this day, GDP per capita,

Do danas, BDP po glavi stanovnika,

which is just the total GDP divided by the number of people living in that country,

što je samo ukupan BDP podeljen sa brojem ljudi koji žive u toj zemlji,

is widely seen as a measure of well-being.

generalno se smatra merom blagostanja.

But GDP doesn’t actually say anything direct about well-being,

Međutim, BDP zapravo ne govori ništa direktno o blagostanju

because it doesn't take into account what a country produces

jer ne uzima u obzir šta neka zemlja proizvodi

or who has access to it.

ili ko ima pristup tome.

A million dollars of weapons contributes the exact same amount to a country’s GDP

Milion dolara u naoružanju doprinosi potpuno istom iznosu BDP-a neke zemlje

as a million dollars of vaccines or food.

kao milion dolara u vakcinama ili hrani.

The value society derives from things like public school or firefighters

Vrednost koju društvo dobija od stvari poput javnih škola ili vatrogasaca

isn’t counted in GDP at all, because those services aren’t sold on the market.

uopšte se ne računa u BDP jer se te usluge ne prodaju na tržištu.

And if a country has a lot of wealth,

A ako neka zemlja ima mnogo bogatstva,

but most of it is controlled by relatively few people,

ali većinu toga kontroliše relativno mali broj ljudi,

GDP per capita gives a distorted picture of how much money a typical person has.

BDP po glavi stanovnika daje iskrivljenu sliku količine novca prosečne osobe.

Despite all that, for a long time,

I pored svega toga, dugo vremena,

higher GDP did correlate closely to a higher quality of life

viši BDP je bio usko povezan sa višim kvalitetom života

for people in many countries.

za ljude u mnogim zemljama.

From 1945 to 1970, as GDP doubled, tripled or even quadrupled

Od 1945. do 1970, kako se BDP udvostručio, utrostručio ili čak učetvorostručio

in some western economies,

u nekim zapadnim ekonomijama,

people’s wages often grew proportionally.

plate ljudi su često proporcionalno rasle.

By the 1980s, this changed.

Do 1980-ih, ovo se promenilo.

Countries continued to grow richer,

Zemlje su nastavile da se bogate,

but wages stopped keeping pace with GDP growth,

ali plate su prestale da idu u korak sa rastom BDP-a

or in some cases, even declined,

ili, u nekim slučajevima, čak su i opale,

and most of the benefits went to an ever-smaller percentage of the population.

a većina beneficija pripala je sve manjem procentu stanovništva.

Still, the idea of capturing a nation’s well-being in a single number

Ipak, ideja o prikazivanju blagostanja nacije kroz jedan broj

had powerful appeal.

bila je izuzetno privlačna.

In 1972, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan

Godine 1972, kralj Butana Džigme Singe Vangčuk

came up with the idea of Gross National Happiness

došao je na ideju da bruto nacionalne sreće

as an alternative to Gross Domestic Product.

bude alternativa za bruto domaći proizvod.

Gross National Happiness is a metric that factors in matters

Bruto nacionalne sreće je mera koja uzima u obzir stvari

like health, education, strong communities, and living standards,

poput zdravstva, obrazovanja, jakih zajednica i životnog standarda,

having citizens answer questions like,

i postavlja građanima pitanja poput:

“How happy do you think your family members are at the moment?”

„Šta mislite koliko su trenutno srećni članovi vaše porodice?”

“What is your knowledge of names of plants and wild animals in your area?”

„Koliko poznajete nazive biljaka i divljih životinja u vašem kraju?”

and “What type of day was yesterday?”

i: „Kakav je dan bio juče?“

The United Nations’ Human Development Index is a more widely used metric;

Indeks ljudskog razvoja Ujedinjenih nacija je mera koja se više koristi;

it takes into account health and education,

ona uzima u obzir zdravlje i obrazovanje,

as well as income per capita to estimate overall well-being.

kao i dohodak po glavi stanovnika radi procene opšteg blagostanja.

Meanwhile, a metric called the Sustainable Development Index

U međuvremenu, mera poznata kao indeks održivog razvoja

factors in both well-being and the environmental burdens of economic growth,

uzima u obzir kako blagostanje tako i ekološka opterećenja ekonomskog rasta,

again, boiling all this down to a single number.

opet, svodeći sve ovo na samo jedan broj.

Though no country has been able to meet

Iako nijednoj zemlji ne uspeva

da zadovolji osnovne potrebe svog naroda

the basic needs of its people while

also using resources fully sustainably,

a da takođe koristi resurse na potpuno održivi način,

Costa Rica currently comes the closest.

Kostarika je trenutno najbliža tome.

Over the past few decades,

Tokom proteklih decenija,

it’s managed to grow its economy and improve living standards substantially

uspela je da razvije svoju ekonomiju i značajno poboljša životni standard

without drastically increasing its emissions.

bez drastičnog povećanja emisija.

Other countries, like Colombia and Jordan,

Druge zemlje, poput Kolumbije i Jordana,

have made notable progress.

ostvarile su značajan napredak.

Costa Rica now has better well-being outcomes like life expectancy

Kostarika sada ima bolje ishode blagostanja poput životnog veka

than some of the world’s richest countries.

nego neke od najbogatijih zemalja sveta.

Ultimately, there are limits to any approach that boils

Naposletku, postoje granice za svaki pristup koji svodi

the quality of life in a country down to a single number.

kvalitet života u nekoj zemlji na samo jedan broj.

Increasingly, experts favor a dashboard approach that lays out all the factors

Stručnjaci sve više favorizuju pristup komandne table koji izlaže sve faktore

a single number obscures.

koje taj jedan broj prikriva.

This approach makes even more sense given that people have different priorities,

Ovaj pristup ima još više smisla budući da ljudi imaju različite prioritete,

and the answer to which country is best to live in

a odgovor na to koja zemlja je najbolja za život

depends on who’s asking the question.

zavisi od toga ko postavlja pitanje.

So what if that were you designing your countries well-being metric?

Dakle, šta kad biste vi dizajnirali meru blagostanja vaše zemlje?

What do you value, and what would you measure?

Koje su vaše vrednosti i šta biste vi merili?