What’s the best country to live in?

譯者: Camila Lin 審譯者: Bruce Sung

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

哪個國家是世界上最宜居的國家？

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

是食物最好吃的國家嗎？

人均預期壽命最長的國家嗎？

The best weather?

還是天氣最好的國家？

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

過去 70 年，大多數的政府 都過度依賴單一數字，

to answer that question.

當作這一問題的回答。

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

這個數字會影響選舉、 股市和政府政策，

But it was never intended for its current purpose;

但這個數字其實並非為此存在。

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

有些人甚至認為，

全世界的國家， 都沉迷於要永遠地提高這個數字。

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

這個數字就是「國內生產毛額」 也就是 GDP ，

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

經濟學家西蒙·庫茲涅茨， 於 1930 年代發明出這個概念，

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

嘗試以一個簡單易懂的數字，

來衡量經濟體的規模。

GDP is the total monetary value of everything a country

GDP 為某國在市場上 生產和銷售的總額。

produces and sells on the market.

To this day, GDP per capita,

時至今日，人均 GDP ，

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

也就是國內生產毛額 除以年中人口數的數值，

is widely seen as a measure of well-being.

成為衡量幸福的普遍標準。

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

然而， GDP 其實和幸福 沒有直接關係，

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

因為 GDP 並未將國家生產的物品種類， 或是誰能獲取產品納入考量。

or who has access to it.

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

市值一百萬美元的武器，

和市值一百萬美元的疫苗或食物， 貢獻的 GDP 數值都相同。

as a million dollars of vaccines or food.

The value society derives from things like public school or firefighters

社會提供的福利價值， 例如公立學校或消防服務，

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

也完全沒有納進 GDP ，

因為這些服務並未於市場販售。

And if a country has a lot of wealth,

而如果一個國家非常富有，

but most of it is controlled by relatively few people,

但大部分的財富 都集中在相對少的人手中，

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

人均 GDP 就無法正確反映出， 普通民眾究竟擁有多少財富。

Despite all that, for a long time,

儘管如此，有很長一段時期，

higher GDP did correlate closely to a higher quality of life

在許多國家中，較高的 GDP 的確 和較高的生活品質密切相關。

for people in many countries.

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

從 1945 年到 1970 年間，

某些西方經濟體的 GDP 增長為二倍、三倍，甚至是四倍，

in some western economies,

people’s wages often grew proportionally.

國民的平均薪資也以相同比例攀升。

By the 1980s, this changed.

但到了 1980 年代卻不再如此。

Countries continued to grow richer,

國家的財富繼續增長，

but wages stopped keeping pace with GDP growth,

但薪水卻跟不上 GDP 的增長幅度，

or in some cases, even declined,

在某些情況下，薪水甚至變少了，

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

大部分的好處都流向 金字塔頂端的那一小群人。

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

儘管如此，用一個數字 衡量國家的生活品質，

had powerful appeal.

仍然有相當大的吸引力。

In 1972, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan

1972 年，不丹國王 吉格梅·辛格·旺楚克提出

came up with the idea of Gross National Happiness

用以代替 GDP 的「國民幸福總數」。

as an alternative to Gross Domestic Product.

Gross National Happiness is a metric that factors in matters

國民幸福總數是一個衡量健康、教育、

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

社區活力、生活水準等方面的指標。

having citizens answer questions like,

人們必須回答以下這種問題：

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

「你覺得你的家人現在有多幸福？」

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

「你有多了解你生活區域附近的 植物和野生動物的名字？」

and “What type of day was yesterday?”

還有「你覺得昨天是怎樣的日子？」

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

聯合國的「人類發展指數」 是一個更被廣泛應用的指標。

it takes into account health and education,

它將健康、教育、人均收入納入考量，

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

以評估國家的整體生活品質。

Meanwhile, a metric called the Sustainable Development Index

此時，名為「永續發展指數」的指標，

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

則同時將生活品質和 經濟發展帶來的環境負擔納入考量，

again, boiling all this down to a single number.

再將其濃縮為一個數值。

Though no country has been able to meet

儘管沒有國家能夠 在滿足國民基本需求的同時，

the basic needs of its people while

also using resources fully sustainably,

以完全永續的方式利用能源，

Costa Rica currently comes the closest.

哥斯大黎加卻是當今 最接近這一目標的國家。

Over the past few decades,

在過去的幾十年裡，

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

哥斯大黎加成功發展經濟， 大幅提高國民的生活品質，

without drastically increasing its emissions.

污染卻沒有大幅增加。

Other countries, like Colombia and Jordan,

哥倫比亞和約旦等國家， 也取得明顯進展。

have made notable progress.

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

現在，哥斯大黎加的 人民預期壽命等幸福指標，

than some of the world’s richest countries.

已超過某些最富有的國家。

Ultimately, there are limits to any approach that boils

總而言之，將某國的生活品質 濃縮為一個數值的方法，都有其極限。

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

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

越來越多專家傾向使用儀表板，

來列出所有被單一數值掩蓋的因素。

a single number obscures.

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

由於每個人的優先考量都不同， 這種呈現方法更合理。

and the answer to which country is best to live in

「哪個國家最適合居住」的答案， 也會因為提問者而不同。

depends on who’s asking the question.

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

如果你負責制定 你國家的生活品質指標，

What do you value, and what would you measure?

你最看重什麼，又會將什麼納入計算？