Brendan Case: We need better metrics for human flourishing

As Canada continues its decade-long slide in the UN’s global happiness rankings, there’s growing questions about whether policymakers are even using the right metrics to measure the indicators of living a good life.

Across the developed world, there’s a similar, troubling pattern. The 2026 UN World Happiness Report, released earlier this month, suggests pronounced declines, particularly in Anglosphere countries. That includes Canada, which dropped to 25th spot in the rankings, while the United States sits at 23rd.

These findings come despite a general rise in material prosperity. While the UN survey moves beyond looking strictly at GDP, some organizations are calling for an even broader view.

To discuss this, Brendan Case, associate director for research at Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, joins Inside Policy Talks. Case has been closely involved in shaping Harvard’s Global Flourish Study, a major international effort to better understand well-being across countries, cultures, and life stages. The study seeks to move beyond narrow economic measures of happiness.

On the podcast, he tells Peter Copeland, deputy director of domestic policy at MLI, that GDP is “an extremely coarse measure” even when it comes to looking at material wealth, and falls far short on capturing other kinds of well-being.

He says the UN survey also has its limits.

“I think that they have genuinely helped in moving the conversation beyond just a narrow fixation on ‘how can we generate more income?’” says Case. However, his team has been engaged in a “friendly debate” with the UN report’s editors on the best alternative mechanisms.

Case notes that the UN metrics ultimately come down to respondents giving a subjective assessment of how satisfied they are with their lives, while the Harvard study looks at a several concrete measures, like health, as determinants of respondents’ well-being.