Contentment Chart

For more than 70 years, economists have been fixated with measuring economic output by gross domestic product; now GDP has its limitations: It doesn't take into account natural-resource depletion, and excludes unpaid services like volunteering. This week the OECD launched an alternative measure of well-being which appears to be a little broader. It includes 20 different indicators, from life satisfaction to air pollution across 11 sectors in its 34 countries. The Economist has produced an interactive tool which allows users to change the weight of each sector according to their own view of its importance. The chart plots the Better Life index on one axis and plots GDP per person at purchasing-power parity on the other axis. This means it adjusts GDP for differences in the cost of living across countries. The end result is a contentment number, and Canada finished on top of the 34 countries in the developed world.