ONS seeks to measure 'inclusive income' as an alternative to GDP

For generations the economy's progress has been measured by a single figure - gross domestic product (GDP). But the UK's official number cruncher, the Office for National Statistics (0NS), is developing an alternative way to judge what constitutes economic growth with a View to declaring whether the way we do business is more or less sustainable than the previous year.

- Phillip Inman

The ONS says it is getting close to building a more comprehensive picture of what households, businesses, charities and the government do each day to produce a ri Val to GDP that supplements all the money transactions in the economy with everything from housework to renewable energy's knock-on benefits for the environment.

The ONS has pulled together figures going back to 2005 that provide an alternative to GDP called "inclusive income" and last week it added natural capital to its list of measures of inclusive wealth.

While GDP measures monetary transactions in the economy to arrive at a total figure, the inclusive income methodology estimates the impact of other things people do that they are not paid for and the positive or negative knock-on effects.

Parents who take their children to events in their own car rather than a taxi, home-cooked meals and voluntary childcare and elder care are among the non-monetary services added to GDP to create a measure of inclusive income.