Implode-o-Meter News - Want to know how society's doing? Forget GDP -- try these alternatives

``As for GDP, has there ever been an acronym as spellbindingly dismal as this? GDP goes up if you sit in traffic for an hour with the engine ticking over. It doesn't if you stay at home, caring for a sick child. GDP has soared in China over the past 20 years. Now its people wear masks in the street to filter the smog.
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Dependency ratio - Admittedly, this is not a thrilling one to monitor as it doesn't move much. But it is moving -- and in the wrong direction for lots of developed countries. The dependency ratio is the number of working-age people compared with the number of children and those over retirement age. According to the Resolution foundation, there are currently seven dependants for every 10 working-age Britons, but this will increase to eight in the 2020s and nine by 2050.

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Want to know how society's doing? Forget GDP -- try these alternatives