What’s the best country to live in?

Translator: Chan Rain Reviewer: Thomas Tam

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

喺呢個世界 邊個國家最適合居住？

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

係咪擁有最好食物、最長壽命、 或者最好天氣嘅地方呢？

The best weather?

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

响過去 70 年，大多數政府 高度依賴緊單一個數字，

to answer that question.

嚟回答呢個問題。

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

呢個數字會影響選舉、 股市同政策。

But it was never intended for its current purpose;

但從來冇打算用喺當前環境；

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

有Ｄ人拗話，就係世人嘅痴迷， 令到呢個數字唔停咁增長。

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

佢叫做國內生產總值， 即係 GDP，

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

喺 1930 年代，經濟學家 Simon Kuznets 發明嘅，

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

用一個單一同易明嘅數字 嚟衡量一個經濟嘅規模。

GDP is the total monetary value of everything a country

GDP 係一個國家嘅總金融經濟產值：

produces and sells on the market.

市場上嘅生產同銷售。

To this day, GDP per capita,

直至如今，國內人均生產總值：

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

總 GDP 除以國家人口數量，

is widely seen as a measure of well-being.

被廣泛視為衡量幸福感嘅指標。

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

但係 GDP 冇直接 講關於幸福數值任何嘅嘢，

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

亦無考慮到 國家生產咗Ｄ咩嘢

or who has access to it.

或邊個有權利去使用。

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

一百萬美金嘅武器 同同等價值嘅疫苗或者食物，

as a million dollars of vaccines or food.

對一個國家嘅 GDP 貢獻係一樣。

The value society derives from things like public school or firefighters

社會價值——公立學校或消防隊等服務，

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

但唔可以喺市場度賣， 計唔到喺 GDP 裡面，

And if a country has a lot of wealth,

假若個國家非常富有，

but most of it is controlled by relatively few people,

單單俾相對一小部分人控制住，

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

人均 GDP 就扭曲咗 普通個人擁有嘅財富。

Despite all that, for a long time,

即使係噉，長期以來，

higher GDP did correlate closely to a higher quality of life

喺好多國家，更高 GDP 同人民有更好嘅生活質量密切相關。

for people in many countries.

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

响一Ｄ西方國家嘅經濟， 由 1945 至 1970 年，

in some western economies,

GDP 係兩至四倍噉增長，

people’s wages often grew proportionally.

工資通常呈現相同比例嘅增長。

By the 1980s, this changed.

直到 1980 年代， 事情改變啦。

Countries continued to grow richer,

國家持續變得富裕，

but wages stopped keeping pace with GDP growth,

但係工資跟唔上 GDP 嘅增長，

or in some cases, even declined,

甚至有Ｄ工資仲下降，

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

大多數嘅利益流向更少數人手上。

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

但係用單一個數字 去衡量國家嘅幸福程度，

had powerful appeal.

仍然具有強大嘅吸引力。

In 1972, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan

喺 1972 年，不丹國王 Jigme Singye Wangchuk

came up with the idea of Gross National Happiness

提出咗國民幸福總值嘅概念，

as an alternative to Gross Domestic Product.

作為國內生產總值嘅替代品。

Gross National Happiness is a metric that factors in matters

國民幸福總值係衡量健康、教育、

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

強大社區同生活水平等因素嘅指標，

having citizens answer questions like,

佢允許公民回答比如「你認為你嘅家人 而家有幾幸福？」之類問題。

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

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

「你對所在地區嘅植物 同野生動物名稱知道幾多？」

and “What type of day was yesterday?”

「你琴日過得點樣呀？」

聯合國人類發展指數 係個更廣泛使用嘅指標；

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

it takes into account health and education,

佢考慮到健康同教育，

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

以及人均收入嚟評估 總體幸福程度。

Meanwhile, a metric called the Sustainable Development Index

同時有個叫做 可持續發展指數嘅指標，

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

包括咗考慮人民福祉 同經濟增長使環境負擔嘅因素，

again, boiling all this down to a single number.

再次，歸結到單一個數字

雖然冇國家能夠做到——

Though no country has been able to meet

the basic needs of its people while

既滿足人民基本需求， 又可使用持續發展嘅資源，

also using resources fully sustainably,

Costa Rica currently comes the closest.

哥斯達黎加係目前最接近。

Over the past few decades,

喺過去幾十年，

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

哥國喺無大幅增加排放 卻成功發展咗經濟，

without drastically increasing its emissions.

並顯著提高咗生活水平。

哥倫比亞同約旦等其他國家

Other countries, like Colombia and Jordan,

have made notable progress.

取得咗顯著進展。

哥國而家擁有更好幸福指數， 比如預期壽命，

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

than some of the world’s richest countries.

將有Ｄ最富裕嘅國家比下去。

Ultimately, there are limits to any approach that boils

歸根究底，任何將國家嘅生活質量

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

歸結為一個數字嘅方法都有所局限。

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

越來越多專家採用儀錶板 來顯示所有因素，

a single number obscures.

單一數字就模糊不清喇；

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

呢種方法，考慮 到人民有唔同優先次序。

and the answer to which country is best to live in

至於邊個國家最適合居住，

就取決喺問問題嘅人身上。

depends on who’s asking the question.

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

噉，如果輪到你嚟設計 國家嘅幸福指標，

What do you value, and what would you measure?

你會睇重Ｄ乜， 又會衡量Ｄ咩呢？