The use of indicators to gauge human progress is common and well understood; Gross Domestic Product and the Index of Leading Economic Indicators are two well-known examples. Yet most of the widely cited indicators focus exclusively on economic activity, and even the most progressive of indicators fail to account for key issues of sustainability. "The Wellbeing of Nations" addresses that shortcoming by combining indicators of human wellbeing with those of environmental stability to generate a more comprehensive picture of the state of our world. The author combines 39 indicators of health, population, wealth, education, communication, freedom, peace, crime and equity in to a Human Wellbeing Index, and 39 indicators of land wealth, protected areas, water quality, water supply, global atmosphere, air quality, species diversity, energy use, and resource pressure into an Ecosystem Wellbeing Index. The two indexes are then combined into a Wellbeing/Stress Index that measures the amount of stress each country's development places on the environment.
Seventy colour-coded geopolitical maps portray the performance of each of the 180 nations for all indexes, and the main indicators that go into them. In addition, all data are given in 160 pages of tables, and the methodology is described in appendices so that readers can undertake their own assessments. Produced in collaboration with the leading international organizations involved with sustainable development, "The Wellbeing of Nations" is a helpful reference for development and environmental policy professionals, as well as for students and scholars in environmental studies, international studies, and international development.