Beyond GDP: A Critical Narrative Review of the World Happiness Report and Gross National
Happiness Index
Kanika Gupta 1, Riya Prasad 2, Ayushi Goel3,
1,2,3Master of Public Health, Department of Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh.
Corresponding Author*: Dr. Kanika Gupta, AIIMS, Rishikesh, [email protected]
Submitted: 12 September 2026; Accepted: 28 September 2026; Published: 20 October 2026.
Background: GDP is a limited measure of national well-being, and two alternatives have gained attention:
the World Happiness Report (WHR) and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index (GNHI).
Aim: To compare what the two instruments measure and assess their usefulness for health policy.
Methods: Narrative review of their theoretical foundations, measurement designs, and applications,
using peer-reviewed and institutional sources.
Results: The WHR uses a single life-evaluation question, which gives broad cross-country comparability but limited sensitivity to inequality and possible cultural response bias. The GNHI covers nine domains with distributional sensitivity, but its thresholds
and weights reflect Bhutanese values and it is hard to apply elsewhere.
Conclusion: The indices measure different constructs, and neither is superior. Policymakers should use each for what it measures, and an integrated framework could combine comparability with equity sensitivity.
Keywords: World Happiness Report; Gross National Happiness; wellbeing measurement; life evaluation; health policy
